"To fear life means you're already 3/4 dead"
285,000 registered potential bone donors are on the list.
12,000 people within the UK have sickle cell anaemia.
1,798 Black and Asian people awaiting an organ and/or blood donations.
Almost 60 members of the black and ethnic minority population died while waiting for a donation.
But yet, ONLY 3% of the black and ethnic community are listed on the donor list.
People from Afro-Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds are said to be 3x more likely to suffer from a condition, where blood is needed, than people from any other ethnic background. But yet, it seems that we fail realise the importance of blood and bone marrow donations. Such organizations such as the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) are so far successful in attempts to attend to the process of blood and organ donation. Due to the lack of the black and ethnic minority people on the donor list, it may be thought that our community may well underestimate it. Beverley De-Gale from ACLT outlines:
"Leukaemia and other blood cancers/disorders are not exclusive and the reality is that 1 in 3 of us will directly be diagnosed with a form of cancer at some stage in our lives."
****ONE IN THREE-- HOW MANY PEOPLE IS THAT ON YOUR FRIENDS LIST?*****
"We would like our community to step forward and to take responsibility of this issue. We can only rely on ourselves to make sure that all sufferers diagnosed as needing bone marrow transplants will benefit from a large number of potential donors from within our community stepping forward, because one day it may affect YOU directly."
12,000 people within the UK have sickle cell anaemia.
1,798 Black and Asian people awaiting an organ and/or blood donations.
Almost 60 members of the black and ethnic minority population died while waiting for a donation.
But yet, ONLY 3% of the black and ethnic community are listed on the donor list.
People from Afro-Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds are said to be 3x more likely to suffer from a condition, where blood is needed, than people from any other ethnic background. But yet, it seems that we fail realise the importance of blood and bone marrow donations. Such organizations such as the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) are so far successful in attempts to attend to the process of blood and organ donation. Due to the lack of the black and ethnic minority people on the donor list, it may be thought that our community may well underestimate it. Beverley De-Gale from ACLT outlines:
"Leukaemia and other blood cancers/disorders are not exclusive and the reality is that 1 in 3 of us will directly be diagnosed with a form of cancer at some stage in our lives."
****ONE IN THREE-- HOW MANY PEOPLE IS THAT ON YOUR FRIENDS LIST?*****
"We would like our community to step forward and to take responsibility of this issue. We can only rely on ourselves to make sure that all sufferers diagnosed as needing bone marrow transplants will benefit from a large number of potential donors from within our community stepping forward, because one day it may affect YOU directly."
So tell me- How is it that the UK has a vast amount of its ethnic communities in various cities, but yet, we only have the percentile of THREE active within the blood and organ donation? Is it time? Effort? Fear of needles? Or is it the "It will never happen to me" syndrome?
Ignorance is not bliss! When the words 'blood sample' come to mind, the reality of a spoonful and adding years onto someones life never come to mind.
How do any of these compare to giving back to your own community, or even better - Being your OWN hero and saving a life of a six year old that wants to see her tenth birthday rather than tell her mum she feels she is going to die ?
The black community have the same circumstances as any other community, such as road accidents, during and following surgery, post natal procedures, etc. The National Blood Service explains that some blood types are more common within ethnic communities; therefore you are more likely to find a match for your own ethnic group.
WHICH might i add is 1in25 for white europeans, and 1in 10,000 for people of African and Caribbean descent.
Beverley De-Gale, ACLT continues;"There are hundreds/thousands of children around the world on the World bone marrow registers waiting for matches. Too many to name. There are also thousands of children and adults currently receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatment and praying that their condition does not worsen and will then require a bone marrow match to survive. We would like to have bone marrow matches available for all leukaemia and blood cancer sufferers whatever their diagnosis status just in case."
How long will it take for us to realise that we can help lower the statistics of our people dying?
Lack of understanding,
Lack of heroism???
Ask yourself...
To be a hero click here
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