Run miles for marrow
Comrades Marathon runners are urged to sign up for the 56Miles4Marrow campaign.
ALL Comrades Marathon runners are encouraged to sign up for The Sunflower Fund’s 56Miles4Marrow Comrades Campaign.
The Sunflower Fund is a non-profit organisation whose sole purpose is to build the South African Bone Marrow Registry and give patients suffering with leukaemia and other life threatening blood disorders the hope of finding their 1:100 000 donor match.
According to Allison Naidoo, PR officer for The Sunflower Fund, the Miles4Marrow campaign has proven to be a highly successful fundraising project.
“People are very happy to sponsor someone they know, doing something extreme for a worthy cause. You will be amazed at how generous sponsors are. On 31 May you will be accomplishing a huge personal achievement by running 89kms while at the same time you will be giving hope to children whose situations seem hopeless. No matter how small – every bit makes a difference,” she said.
It is very unlikely that this life saving donor match will be found outside a patients ethnic group which means in South Africa 100 000 donors of each of the four prominent ethnic groups (Black, Coloured, Indian and White) need to be educated and recruited. Although it only takes two test tubes of blood to become a donor it costs The Sunflower Fund R2000 to tissue type this blood sample before it can be included on the Registry. In order to create an effective and representative registry for all South African patients, The Sunflower Fund has to raise much needed funds.
For more information on the campaign or how you can get involved, contact Allison Naidoo on 079 881 3056 or allison@sunflowerfund.org.za
