Bone Marrow Stem Cell Drive

From Declan Du Toits website:

Hi Everybody
We have to postpone the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Donor Drive. We are waiting for a date when SANBS can come to us. But in the meantime, except for the DATE, here is the information you need.
Declan’s monster could not be cured with a bone marrow stem cell transplant, but a lot of his friends at Hotel Healing and at hotels all around the country, suffering from Leukaemia and other life threatening blood disorders, could be.
The drive will take place on DATE STILL TO BE DECIDED. You do NOT need to pay anything for the Declan Donor Drive, but we are looking to raise funds to cover the costs. So please speak to your bosses and friends to find out if there are some corporates who would be willing to make a donation, anything, even R50 and of course if you want to make a donation, you can, but you are not obliged.
There is a separate bank account set up for the Declan Donor Drive and after the Drive, any money not needed for the lab tests will go to The Sunflower Fund (www.sunflowerfund.org.za):
FNB Featherbrooke Village Branch Acc name: All Hands On Dec Friends 622 157 370 42 Savings Branch code: 250 741
In the meantime if you are committed to do this when we get a date then, STEP ONE: Call The Sunflower Fund toll free number a.s.a.p. The number is 0800 12 10 82. They will go through a list of questions with you, to pre-qualify you and will give you a reference number. You must tell them it is for DECLAN DAY.
The basic criteria is, you must be aged between 18 and 50, you must be in excellent health, you must weigh more than 50kg’s and you must permanently reside in SA and plan to be for the next 3 years and lastly but most importantly, you must be committed to help ANYONE.
STEP TWO: If the call centre “approves” you, please email me on aurasa@metroweb.co.za to let me know that you have been approved and I will email you when we finally get a date to see if you can still come.
The next very important thing is that we are doing this in Declan’s memory and to carry on his legacy. Often people join the registry cos they are carried away in the moment and in the memory of someone they love and then later, in a couple of years, they may be called as a match, and they don’t feel so strongly about it anymore. This is just horrible for the families involved and even more so people’s lives are on the line. So please think very very very carefully, before you join up and make sure that you are committed for life and committed to help anyone. This is not about Declan, this is about anonymous children in the future, whose lives you can save.
STEP THREE: On the day, when we get a date, a blood sample will be taken. Since you have a needle in already, we are encouraging people to also donate blood on the day, but you don’t have to. Your sample is tissue typed and your unique details are placed on the registry. You will also be sent a donor card.
STEP FOUR – The day comes that you are a match. The odds are 1 in 100 000 that is why we need as many donors as possible. You will have to undergo a physical exam to check that you are still in the same peak physical condition you were when you signed up. If yes, then you will have to go to the hospital where the patient is, be dripped and donate for 4-6 hours. And that’s it. The family of the patient pay all the costs of your physical and travel to the hospital where their child is. If they ask about a payment option say its for Declan Day.
So I hope that all makes sense. Email me if you have any questions.
CANSA SHAVATHON is THIS weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Check out their website on www.shavathon.org.za to see where you can go shave or dye your hair. Daryl and I are going to Clearwater Mall on Saturday at 11am. Come and meet up with us.
We feeling better today. It is that up and down wave thing that happens. Thank you for all the messages
Love Daryl and Gillian