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Appeal for mixed-race donors
Sonia Akow from Earl's Court is dying from leukaemia - the very same disease that killed her mother. But because of her rich ethnic heritage, her chances of finding a life-saving bone marrow donor are only one in 100,000.
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Q&A: bone marrow donation
Mixed race communities 'hold the key' to saving Sonia's life
Beverley De-Gale OBE, the co-founder of the bone marrow and blood donation charity ACLT, says:
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Appeal for mixed race donors to come forward
For a bone marrow donation to be successful, it must come from someone with the same ethnic origin as the patient.
But Sonia's ethnicity is a combination of White (UK), Chinese, Black (Caribbean) and Indian - so her chances of finding a donor are dramatically lower than they might be otherwise.
She's now appealing directly to members of Britain's BME (Black Minority Ethnic) community for help - urging them to sign up to the Bone Marrow Registry.
Working with the ACLT, a charity dedicated to promoting bone marrow and blood donation, she is holding the following registration drives across London:
Tuesday 26th February, 2-8pm
Shepherds Bar, Shepherds Building, Charecroft Way, London, W14 0DA
Saturday 2nd March, 11-5pm
The Tabernacle, 35 Powis Square, Ladbroke Grove, London, W11 2AY
In particular, she is appealing for people of her own rich heritage - White (UK), Chinese, Black (Caribbean) and Indian - aged 16 – 49, to come forward.
Chance of finding donor is only one in 100,000
Losing your mother to leukaemia is devastating enough, but imagine the impact of being diagnosed with the same condition, just one year after her death.
That's the situation facing 42-year-old music publicist Sonia Akow from Earl's Court.
She was diagnosed with the disease in November and now urgently needs a bone marrow transplant to save her life.
But because of her mixed heritage, her situation is even more desperate: her chance of finding a suitable donor is only 1 in 100,000.
If she were white British, it would be 1 in 4.
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A London DJ, diagnosed with the same disease that killed her mother, is appealing for a stem cell donor to help save her life.
Sonia Akow has a treatable form of leukaemia, but her mixed ethnicity means her odds of finding a donor are just one in one hundred thousand.
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Q&A: bone marrow donation
What is bone marrow? Why do some patients need transplants? And why are some people so unlikely to find a donor?