A family from Hertfordshire is campaigning to recruit more potential donors to the Anthony Nolan register after being told that their mother, Letife Cavusoglu, needs a bone marrow transplant.
When the Turkish-Cypriot family discovered that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are under-represented on the bone marrow register, the family leapt into action, calling on the community to sign up and potentially save their mum's life.
Busy mum Letife, 49, who is an NHS worker from Cheshunt, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in October 2013, shortly after returning from a family holiday in Northern Cyprus.
'Mum had been feeling a bit tired on holiday but had no other symptoms apart from that, at the time,' remembers Mustafa, Letife's 25-year-old son, who works with his father in textiles. 'When she came back, she wasn't feeling herself and we thought she'd caught a bad cold, but soon we realised it was a lot worse than that.'
When her condition worsened, the family were worried she might be anaemic. But after going for tests at Chase Farm Hospital, Letife's husband Halil and their two children, Mustafa and Hale, were shocked by the news that Letife had a form of blood cancer. 'The diagnosis was totally unexpected,' says Mustafa. 'We just collapsed.'
Letife is now at the end of her second phase of chemotherapy and has now been told that she will need a bone marrow transplant.
Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan uses its register to match potential donors to blood cancer patients in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. 'The family is appealing for more donors to join the register, especially those from ethnic minority communities.'
Mustafa explains: 'The earlier we find a match for mum, the better her chances. But we also want to make it easier for other people from mixed ethnicities to find a donor in the future, so we really need the community to pull together and potentially do something amazing, both for others and for our mum.'
Ann O'Leary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, says, 'What many people don't realise is how easy it is to join the bone marrow register – it simply involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. We urgently need more young men and people from minority ethnic communities to sign up as they are under-represented on the register.'
If you're aged 16–30 you can join the register online here.