Sue Harris expands testing

A communal stem cell donor drive celebrating its 30th anniversary this year is o ering its services to other minorities in the UK.

The Sue Harris Campaign, founded by the late Sue Harris (pictured) and friends in 1993, has played a major role in the worldwide e ort to recruit Jewish stem cell donors. It is now delivering its annual Swab Week model to other ethnic communities across the country.

In a UK first, the Sue Harris Trust has assembled a coalition of organisations for a pioneering Swab Week from 23-27 January in Luton, where more than 150 languages and dialects are spoken and over half the town do not identify as white British.

Non-white blood cancer patients are at a major disadvantage as 70 percent of all registered stem cell donors are white, though 88 percent of the world’s population isn’t.

From 6-10 February, the trust will hold a larger than usual Jewish Swab Week for 16-year-olds and over in 11 schools in London and Manchester, as well as seven seminaries and yeshivot in Gateshead.