Ashton Dry (11) from Port Edward was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in February this year.
In a matter of weeks, his life changed drastically as he began receiving aggressive chemotherapy treatment.
ALSO READ : Ashton needs your support to fight leukemia
This means the formerly active youngster can no longer enjoy his favourite hobbies – which include skateboarding and wakeboarding.
To improve Ashton’s chances of a full recovery, a bone marrow blood stem cell and platelet donor drive will be held at Southcoast Mall on Saturday, April 20 from 10am to 2pm.
Everyone between the ages of 18 to 45 years with a body mass index of less than 40 and a consistent weight of more than 50 kilograms is invited to register to be a blood stem cell donor and give the hope of cure to those who, like Ashton, have been diagnosed with a blood disease.
People of all ages and races can find themselves in need of a transplant and in such cases, they are looking for their genetic twin.
The chances of finding this match is one in 100 000, and the best chance of a match is within the same ethnic background.
There is only a 25 percent chance that a sibling will be a match – the remaining 75 percent chance depends on an unrelated matching donor being found.
At this stage, it is still uncertain if Ashton’s brother Cody is a match, and doctors are reluctant to test his younger sister Gabriella as she has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, as well as a history of immune deficiency.
Ashton’s mother, Nicole said that as a parent one wanted to be able to talk their child through every tough situation, and parents often drew on their own life experiences to help them understand, but this was a road she had never walked.
“As a mother we hurt when our children hurt, we cry when our children cry, we would swap places without a second thought. But sadly that’s not an option, these mountains are his to climb. We can be his support team, his cheerleaders but inevitably it is his fight, his mountain to conquer.”
“A blood stem cell transplant is a procedure where the defective cells in a person’s bone marrow are replaced by healthy ones from their donor,” explained Kim Webster, spokesman for The Sunflower Fund.
For the donor, it involves a fairly painless procedure which can take up to six hours, and is very similar to donating platelets.
There are no major side effects.
Registration takes less than 10 minutes and, after completing a health screening, a DNA sample will be collected via a painless cheek swab.
Those wanting to register are asked to not eat or drink anything for at least an hour beforehand.
The Fund covers the cost of the tissue-type testing.
The Sunflower Fund is a donor recruitment centre and stem cell registry that is part of a global network, dedicated to creating awareness about blood diseases and stem cell donation, recruiting blood stem cell donors and maintaining a registry of committed donors.
To find out more visit www.sunflowerfund.org or call the toll free number 0800 12 10 82.
You can follow Ashton’s story via the Facebook page Ashton’s Army.
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