University of Bristol Independent Student Newspaper
www.epigram.org.uk
1st February 2016
‘You could save a life’ Hundreds sign up to bone marrow registry
Issue 296
Features Bristol students tackle #TheHomelessPeriod
Page 7 Epigram/Lara Glantz
Noa Leach News Reporter
Letters Freya Spriggs reaches out to Bristolians to defend the student population
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Volunteers at the #matchforlara drive were inundtaed with students hoping to donate. Over 400 students signed up for the Anthony Nolan Register on 25th January 2016.
With a team of almost 50 volunteers, the donor drives were successful in spreading the word among students. Student donors at the drive were keen to show their support. One Bristol medic commented on the limited ethnicity of the donor registry.
‘The ethnicity of people who give donations is very limited,’ they said. ‘It’s so important, especially in somewhere like Bristol where there’s so much diversity. I think everyone can give some spit in a tube as it takes five minutes. If that can save a life, that’s the most important thing.’ Bone marrow donors usually have the same ethnicity as their recipient. Hannah Haddad, a friend of Casalotti’s, was present at the donor drive and highlighted the importance of such events for improving diversity in the
In a recent video online Casalotti thanked everyone for all the support. ‘I’d like to thank everyone who has helped spread the word,’ she said, ‘and I’d like to thank especially everyone who’s already gone out to sign up to the donor registries. It’s really important that people do sign up and not just for me, but you could potentially be saving someone else’s life who’s in a similar position.’ ‘I have known the Casalottis for as long as I can remember and I don’t think I know any other family who could have responded in such a wonderful way. By campaigning to diversify registries around the world, not only are they helping Lara to find a match, but they are saving so many lives globally,’ said Hayley Deaner. As Deaner highlights, the campaign will improve the chances of blood-cancer sufferers all over the world. Haddad added that, ‘one in ten registries go on to save a life. So if the whole university signs up, hundreds will go on to save someone’s life. ‘That’s how important this is.’ If you missed the drives, you can still join the registry at www.match4lara.com.
Flickr / Paul; Chapman
Style ‘Bristol is the perfect place to launch a start-up’ Epigram chats to House of Junk cofounder Nicki Silvanus
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Food Julia Pritchard reviews new bakery, Pinkmans Page 29
Arts Helena Napier explores 250 years of the Bristol Old Vic Flickr: David McKelvey
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‘One in ten registries go on to save a life. So if the whole university signs up, hundreds will go on to save someone’s life.’
registry. ‘Universities are key areas to recruit stem cell donors because students are generally young and healthy and we’ve got people studying here from all over the world,’ Haddad said. The determination of the volunteer team emphasised the importance of this cause. ‘At the end of the day, we’ve got 700 kits and we’re determined to use them all up. That’s 700 lives potentially being saved, so hopefully every little bit we do will help.’ Within three hours, 200 of those kits had been sealed for testing. At the time of publication, over 400 people had signed up to the Anthony Nolan register, with the number looking set to increase. The campaign, with nearly 15,000 members on its global Facebook community, has certainly had an international reach. Support for the campaign has been shown by Bristol mayor George Ferguson, Stephen Fry, and even the Prime Minister. At last week’s Prime Minister’s Question Time, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq requested that David Cameron join her in a donor drive in Casalotti’s constituency in London, to which the Prime Minister expressed his support.
Epigram/ Sorcha Bradley
A campaign is running to find a bone marrow match for Lara Casalotti, a graduate of the University of Bristol who was recently diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). The #match4lara campaign is running in conjunction with the charity Anthony Nolan, a charity that manages and recruits donors to the Anthony Nolan & NHS Stem Cell Registry, the registry which lists potential bone marrow donors. The 24 year old learned of the aggressive form of blood cancer while working on a social project in Thailand over Christmas and she needs to find a donor by April. Casalotti studied Geography at Bristol and was an active SU volunteer and campaigner, passionate about refugee issues and human rights. She is now in London, taking an MSc in Global Migration at UCL. Two donor drives ran on Monday 25th January at the UoB Sports Centre and Badock Hall. Students were given the opportunity to join the bone marrow register, which involved filling out a form and spitting in a tube – a 10 minute process. ‘We’re appealing to anyone,’ said Casalotti’s brother Seb in a video designed to promote the campaign, ‘especially those of mixed race, to do something as simple as spitting into a cup to potentially help people like Lara and others in the future.’ With a mixed ethnicity of Chinese, Thai and Italian, Casalotti’s marrowmatch is likely to be of mixed race heritage. However, as only three per cent of donors in the current global stem cell registry are of mixed race, this is especially hard to find. The #match4lara therefore also aims to diversify the donor registers. Before the drive, Hayley Deaner, a family friend of Casalotti’s, commented on the ‘incredible’ response of the student community. ‘Hopefully this will help us see Bristol’s most successful drive on Monday. It’s important that people know how simple it is for them to save someone’s life.’
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