London Fire Brigade has again teamed up with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) charity and the National Blood Service to find potential bone marrow donors in a race against time to help save the life of five month old Damario Thomas and others like him.
Lewisham Fire Station, 249-259 Lewisham High Street, will be open on Saturday, 2 June from 11am to 6pm in a bid to attract potential donors who could save the life of Damario, diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening blood condition.
Damario, who lives in south London, has been having chemotherapy treatments but his only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant. Damario's parents are of African-Caribbean descent and the chance of finding a matching donor for a patient is greater if the donor is from the same ethnic background, although people from all communities are encouraged to attend.
Last year, more than 130 people became potential lifesavers by attending a clinic at Southwark Training Centre, jointly organised with the ACLT, to help find a donor for talented young teacher Sarah Thompson. A successful match was later found for her.
The ACLT is currently campaigning to increase the number of bone marrow donors on a national register.
Although there are 750,000 people registered as donors in Britain, very few are of African, Caribbean, mixed race or any other ethnic minority origin. No matches are currently available on the world registers for Damario.
Anyone in general good health, aged 18-40, can become a donor. To register is straightforward with just a small blood sample taken and takes about 30 minutes. Details will then be put on the UK donor register. Bone marrow can be easily transplanted if needed with a simple procedure that can make all the difference between life or death. If you can't help Damario, you may well be able to help someone else.
Sir Ken Knight, London Fire Brigade Commissioner, said: “We are pleased to support this initiative to highlight the need for more donors to help people like Damario.
"We encourage the local community and especially the black and ethnic minority communities to support this appeal by taking a few minutes out of their day to come and register as potential lifesavers.”
Beverley De-Gale and Orin Lewis, the mother and stepfather of ex-leukaemia sufferer Daniel De Gale, set up the ACLT in June 1996.
Potential bone marrow donors at the Lewisham Fire Station clinic will join the largest UK register administered by The Anthony Nolan Trust.
Note to editors:
none
Members of the media can obtain further information from the press office on:
telephone number: 020 8536 5922
email: press@london-fire.gov.uk
