Kevin Leukaemia Trust was founded soon after the death of Kevin Kararwa. Kevin was a remarkable and charismatic 24 years old young man who lost his battle against Leukaemia after failing to obtain a matching bone marrow donor.
Kevin was 22 years old when he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). He underwent intensive chemotherapy treatments which unfortunately proved to be unsuccessful. At the time, doctors advised that the only chance of survival for Kevin was through a bone marrow transplant.
Following a world-wide search of volunteer bone marrow registers and relentless donor appeals through the local and national media, a match was sadly not found. This was devastating news for Kevin, his family and his many friends. Doctors decided that the only other chance was for Kevin to have a 50% matched transplant donation from his younger brother; but again sadly this did not work. During this difficult time, Kevin, his family and friends learned that there is a dire shortage of bone marrow donors from the ethnic minority and indeed from the black community generally. It was even more devastating to learn that Africa as a whole and indeed the East African Region is not represented in the world donor registries.
This made the need for a bone marrow donor Registry for the East African region that much necessary and urgent.
Kevin’s death wish was that no one, young or old, should go through the painful ordeal he had to endure. As family and friends we decided to honour his wish and establish the Kevin Kararwa Leukaemia Trust.