Manchester student: "Please give me the chance to live"
by Natasha Carter
A student from Manchester with a rare form of blood cancer could have just weeks to live unless a bone marrow match is found.
Martin Solomon, 20, is battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and desperately needs a life-saving transplant.
But despite a worldwide search no match has yet been found and doctors say time is running out for him.
Celebrities including United defender Rio Ferdinand City and Waterloo Road star Chelsee Healey have tweeted people to come forward and take a simple saliva test that could save his life.
I'm supporting @match4martinuk at the printworks mcr at 3pm on Saturday and ask anyone between 18-30 to please come along to support too x
From @chelseehealey on Twitter:Help support the cause #Match4Martin 20yr old needs a bone marrow transplant and ur RT can help find a match. http://t.co/rd9U9Usz
From @rioferdy5 on Twitter:Former Manchester City player Shaun Wright-Phillips made a video appeal with ACLT to raise awareness for the family's campaign, Match4Martin to persuade people to be tested.
Martin, from Sale, was successfully treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2007.
He spent four years cancer-free, but doctors revealed he had relapsed in August last year. Doctors now say a stem cell donor is his only chance of survival.
His sisters, 29-year-old Serena and 22-year-old Zea, were not found to be a match for Martin.
– Martin Solomon“Without a stem cell donor I will not survive. Please join the register. Please give me the chance to live.
One of the reasons a match has proved so hard to find for Martin is because mum Paula, 48, is English/Irish and social worker dad Martin, 49, is of Caribbean descent.
Paula, a senior NHS administrator, said: “Martin has to have a transplant. Not having one is not an option. He’s got only weeks now.”
A donor clinic will be held at The Printworks on Saturday from noon to 6pm to carry out quick, painless tests on the public. Anyone between 16 and 30, who weighs more than eight stone, can join the bone marrow register.
If you are over 30, you can still become a stem cell donor by becoming a blood donor.To find out more or to sign up, please go to www.blood.co.uk.
To see if you could be a match, go to www.anthonynolan.org or for more information about the campaign visit match4martin.com or follow Match4Martin on Facebook.
Football fans to help student with rare blood cancer
