The Berger family's campaign to recruit more Jewish donors has led to a 1700% increase in Jewish people joining the bone marrow register.
Since 1st January 2013, 1056 Jewish people have joined the bone marrow register. This compares to just 62 in the same period in 2012.
Sharon Berger was diagnosed with blood disorder MDS in 2006. Doctors have now told her that she needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. Finding a matching donor is more difficult because of Sharon’s combination of rare tissue types – her best match is likely to be an Ashkenazi Jew.
Sharon’s children, Jonni and Caroline, started the twitter campaign #Spit4Mum in order to spread the word. The campaign has seen hundreds of people visit Anthony Nolan’s website, and it has also been picked up and retweeted by a number of celebrities and journalists.
Sharon’s son, Jonni, says, ‘When relatives are ill, people often say ‘is there anything I can do’? In our case, there is – you can join the bone marrow register. The huge increase in registrations as a result of our #Spit4Mum campaign shows that people have listened to us and are determined to help. Being able to potentially help so many more people with blood cancer is fantastic and has really cheered up our mum from her hospital bed. Thank you to everyone who has helped.’
Sharon has recently started her second round of chemotherapy. The doctors hope that it will give Sharon more time to find a good stem cell (or bone marrow) match.
Jonni adds, 'We hope that there is someone out there who is a match for our mum. Our mum has developed a life threatening condition and it could happen to anyone. We hope that everyone who can, will join the bone marrow register to help someone with blood cancer.'
Ann O’Leary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, says, ‘This increase shows how much Sharon’s story has affected people in the Jewish community. Currently, we can only find donors for half of the people in need of a bone marrow transplant. This probably is compounded for people from unusual ethnic backgrounds, like Sharon. We urgently need more people from ethnic minorities to join the bone marrow register and help us to save more lives.’
If you are aged 16–30, you can join the register online. Joining the register involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. In 90% of cases, the donation procedure is similar to giving blood.