Worldwide bone marrow search
Chris Thomas
If you can help by becoming a donor, or by sending this on to your network
of contacts, please do.
A good guide to bone marrow registries around the world can also be found
here: http://www.bmdw.org/index.php?id=addresses
There is also a Facebook group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=171136050598
International search for bone marrow donor
http://www.perthaca.com.au/story_details.php?sID=TWpBdw==
It's the international search to save a young, Perth newlywed.
Lavanya Scholes has a rare form of leukaemia, and needs a bone marrow donor
or she will die.
The problem is, she's Indian and out of 13 million donors in the world, so
far no one is a match.
Lavanya had just got married, and was living in her brand new house with her
new husband when she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. The news
tipped her world upside-down.
Lavanya's husband Simon was forced to come to terms with the news.
"It just happened all so quickly I mean she went out to a blood test on a
Thursday, and on Friday she got a call from Fremantle hospital and they said
she might have leukaemia. So we rushed down to emergency got tested again
got tested again and yeah, she had leukaemia."
To live, she needs a bone marrow transplant, but none of her family members
are a match.
Debbie Witt from the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry says people of
Indian origin are desperately needed.
"Our main target should be the southern Indian population."
In the meantime Lavanya has been staying positive with the help of her
friends who shaved their heads to support her.
"My friends and my family have been, I just couldn't do it without them
basically, they've just been so good...I owe them a lot."
And she's planning her future for when, not if, she finds a donor.
"I've always wanted to go and volunteer overseas. It's just something I've
always wanted to do but never did because work got in the way or you get too
busy but that's something I want to do, and I'm going to go do it."
To take a test to help Lavanya, you must be between 18 and 45. Please call
the Red Cross on 13 14 95.