Jonathan and Michelle Lundy are appealing for more people to sign up to the bone marrow register after their 8 year old daughter Zara suffered a relapse during her treatment for Leukaemia.
Zara, who attends Westwood Primary School, was diagnosed in January 2015 with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and had started chemotherapy treatment, but relapsed last week. She now needs a bone marrow transplant and immediate family are currently being tested as potential matches. The hospital will then look to the national database to try and find a match.
The family are hoping to increase their chances of finding a match by encouraging more people to register as a donor. Meanwhile Zara has this week started intense chemo to force her back into remission with the hope of finding a donor match to do a bone marrow transplant in the new year.
Jonathan and Michelle said:
“We are desperate do everything we can to help Zara. We are checking to see if we are a match and can donate our bone marrow. We urge everyone to sign up to the Bone Marrow Register. If it doesn’t help our Zara, it might help someone else in this awful situation.”
To sign up as a donor you need to be aged 17-40 years old (registered before your 41st birthday), male and be a blood donor. Females, within the same age range, from Black, Asian, minority ethnicities and mixed ethnicity backgrounds are also accepted.
You can find out more about bone marrow and donation here: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bone-marrow-donation/Pages/Introduction.aspx
To become a blood donor call 0300 123 23 23; visit the donor centre at 117 The Headrow in the city centre; or find out more here: www.blood.co.uk/
