Lifesaving Bone Marrow Donor Desparately Needed

Sam Ellies is an 18 year old Broome teenager with leukaemia and he urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. Sam has not been able to find a match within his immediate family and so an Australia wide search is now being conducted to find someone of a similar racial background who may match Sam and be able to give him a life saving bone marrow transplant.

Sam has a mixed racial background and he carries Aboriginal, Japanese, Chinese, Sri Lankan and Caucasian genes. Someone who has mixed Asian/Indigenous heritage may be a match for Sam and we need to find that person. So far over 750 people in Broome, Derby, Lombodina and Beagle Bay Communities have undergone blood tests to see if they match Sam and a further 500 were tested in Darwin last weekend. The results are not yet available but in the meantime the search is continuing.

If you are over 17 and under 50, and have Aboriginal and Asian heritage, please call your nearest Red Cross Blood Service and make an appointment for a simple blood test. You will be entered on the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and screened to see if you match Sam. If not you still may be able to be matched for another person in dire need of a bone marrow transplant now or in the future. Please give Sam Ellies the chance to beat leukaemia.

Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry contact via Red Cross National Toll Free Number 13 14 95 or visit www.abmdr.org.au