Several months ago, I was made aware of an appeal from a local family in Harrow who are asking for more Asians to come forward and register as stem cell donors. Their three-year-old son Veer had been diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Fanconi Anaemia. This means his bone marrow is not functioning properly, and so his blood counts are dropping. He will need a stem cell transplant to survive, for which the family need to find an unrelated stem cell donor.
I recently learned that the situation has dramatically accelerated and that he urgently needs a transplant.
As an Asian, Veer only has a 20% chance of finding a matching donor. That compares to nearly 70% chance for someone of European descent. This is because it has been reported that there are not enough people of Asian descent registered as donors.
If you would like to contact the family about being a transplant donor, you can use the contact form on their website https://www.helpveernow.org/contact or email them at this address: helpveernow@gmail.com
You can find out more about Veer’s appeal, and registering as a donor, by visiting www.helpveernow.org. You can also follow Veer’s story on social media @HelpVeerNow.