Birmingham students are backing a bone marrow donor campaign for a Mosley man who is seriously ill with a rare blood disorder. His story has already touched the hearts of celebrities including Alistair Brownlee, Stephen Fry, Fearne Cotton and Chase and Status, who have urged their social media followers to sign up.
Ed Fox, 27, needs a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Join the donor register and #bethecure http://t.co/cUqBEDUAzW @AnthonyNolan
— Alistair Brownlee (@AliBrownleetri) February 14, 2014
Birmingham students were moved by Ed’s story and are holding a recruitment event for people to join the Anthony Nolan bone marrow donor register on Wednesday 19th February. Birmingham Marrow volunteer group has already signed up 320 students to the Anthony Nolan register since September, a 400% increase on figures from the previous year.
'I'll do everything I can to save his life'
Twenty-seven year old Ed Fox from moved from Moseley in Birmingham to Belgium to be with the love of his life, Katrien Depecker. Soon after moving to Belgium, he was taken into hospital and diagnosed with lymphoma and hemophagocytosis, a life-threatening blood disorder which was caused by a rare complication from the Epstein-Barr virus.
Doctors have now told Ed that he needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Ed has a rare tissue type and, despite a worldwide search for a bone marrow (or stem cell) donor, no match has been found. Girlfriend Katrien has launched a global appeal for people to join the bone marrow register.
Katrien said, ‘Without the help of a stem cell donor, the love of my life is going to die. That is why I hope as many people as possible will register. It doesn’t take more than donating some blood and if it doesn’t help my Ed, it might help some other unfortunate soul. He left his life in England to be with me, now I will do everything I can to save his life.’
Celebrities have joined the campaign and are encouraging their twitter followers to join the bone marrow donor register using the hashtag #helpeddonorappeal and #bethecure. Fearne Cotton, Stephen Fry, Derren Brown, Gary Lineker, Robbie Savage, Will Carling, Jeremy Kyle, Sara Cox, and Ross Kemp are among the celebrities supporting the appeal.
Help Ed Fox, 27, get the bone marrow transplant he needs to save his life. Join the donor register and #bethecure http://t.co/V5BWmm6zvA
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 13, 2014
Laura Archer, President of Birmingham Marrow, says, ‘We are so excited to be able to support Ed’s campaign by recruiting new donors to the bone marrow register. The fact that Ed is from Birmingham makes the need for more donors very real – it shows people that it could be anyone you know that needs a matching donor. Some of Ed’s friends are coming along to volunteer at the event, and we’re hoping that lots of students will be inspired to join the Anthony Nolan register.‘
How you can help
Charlotte Connolly, Marrow Programme Lead at Anthony Nolan, says, ‘When someone needs a bone marrow transplant, we search worldwide to try to find a matching donor. Unfortunately, we can currently only find a suitable donor for half of the patients in need of a bone marrow transplant.
‘We need more donors to step forward as they could be a match for someone in desperate need of a transplant. Joining the register is very simple and in 90% of cases, the donation procedure is similar to giving blood. We especially need more young men to join the register as they are the most likely to be chosen to donate.’
Joining the register simply involves filling in a form and giving a saliva sample. If you are aged 16–30 and in good health, you can join the register at the Birmingham Marrow recruitment event:
19th February 2014
12-5pm
Amos Room, Guild of Students, University of Birmingham, B15 2TU
This event is open to the public.
If you can't get to this event, you can join the bone marrow donor register online here.