Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.
My friend, Ify and I are raising money for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), a charity close to our heart.
The ACLT was set up in 1996 and campaigns to increase the number of potential donors from the black and ethnic minority community and has so far increased this from approximately 550 to 27,000. As bone marrow contains racially specific characteristics, a compatible donor can only be found within one's race, which means that the chances of finding a bone marrow donor for a person of black or mixed parentage increases to 1 in 250,000 compared to 1 in 250 for a white person.
My dad was diagnosed with acute myeloid lymphoma (a type of leukaemia) in January 2006 and although he was in remission, by December 2006, after treatment; he unfortunately relapsed late in 2007 and succumbed to the illness in December 2007. Immediately after he was diagnosed, the doctors, after tissue typing, confirmed that none of my family were a suitable match for him. They put us in touch with the ACLT who organised bone marrow drives in and around Enfield. Unfortunately, time ran out for my dad but the charity has and continues to help other families like mine.
Throughout the years of volunteering with the charity, I have come to understand that leukaemia (and cancer) transcends all race, age, class and gender and the work of the ACLT is vital in raising awareness and in the process offering hope and a healthy future to many whose disorder may otherwise prove fatal.
Please visit the charity's website for more information www.aclt.org
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