I'd like to meet:
PLEASE PASS THIS ONTO FAMILY & FRIENDSThe ACLT was established in June 1996 by Beverley De-Gale and Orin Lewis, the parents of former Leukaemia sufferer Daniel De-Gale. When the charity was initially set up, Daniel had already been suffering from Leukaemia for 3 years. Daniel's parents were informed that Daniel's only hope of survival was to receive a bone marrow transplant. Due to the fact that bone marrow contains racially specific characteristics, the compatible donor for Daniel could only be found within the black or mixed race population. At the time when this shattering news was revealed, there were just 550 black or mixed race people on the UK bone marrow registers. The consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital who was responsible for Daniel informed the parents that there was just an approx. 1 in 250,000 chance of Daniel finding a compatible donor.The charity raises awareness which enables potential donors to come forward at the ACLT registration drives to be involved in the process of offering hope and a healthy future to someone whose disorder may otherwise prove fatal. Bone Marrow is a blood like liquid, which can be donated by one person into another person in 1 of 2 simple procedures.In April 1999 Daniel's parents were informed that a matching unrelated donor had finally been found. On 16th June 1999 12-year-old Daniel received a bone marrow transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Nine years on and 21 years of age Daniel attends university and pursues as normal a life as most his age.Many sufferers and their families contact the ACLT from the UK and around the world asking for financial assistance or to raise awareness and recruit potential donors in an attempt to find suitable donors.Unfortunately, 7000 sufferers require life saving bone marrow transplants at any one time.Less than 3% of potential donors on the bone marrow registers are made up of ethnic minorities. Raising awareness & potential funds for the ACLT will allow us to continue to host awareness events and registration drives throughout the UK and Worldwide, therefore potentially giving greater hope to leukaemia and bone marrow cancer sufferers of all racial backgrounds.The aim of the ACLT is to raise the required funds to start an independent ACLT Bone Marrow Register that will allow us to undertake world wide donor searches. The ultimate aim of the charity is to be able to fund the testing of the many potential bone marrow donors stepping forward.The Registry will be UK based and working in conjunction with the world bone marrow registers, which will enable the ACLT to coordinate the implementation and planning of raising awareness campaigns within the UK for the under represented communities. We want to start small and as funds start to come in we will grow allowing the register to then recruit greater numbers of potential donors from these under represented groups around the world and in the future have our own laboratories enabling an in-house testing & research facility.There are many sufferers and their families fighting with tremendous courage and strength. We would like to observe that their battle would not be in vain.Details below. Thank You.A.C.L.T., SOUTHBRIDGE HOUSE, SOUTHBRIDGE PLACE, CROYDON CR0 4HARegistered Charity No 1119516Tel 020 8 240-4480 | Fax 020 8 240 4481| Email [email protected] | Web www.aclt.org
