Sharon Berger Transplant Update

Sharon Berger, who celebrated her 65th birthday only a few weeks ago, has received devastating news when a routine blood test showed that, after three years, her leukemia has returned.

Sharon needs now a new stem cell donor. A suitable donor will most likely be someone with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, so Anthony Nolan is calling for donors from this community:

Read more about Sharon Berger's patient story on Anthony Nolan's website.

Sign up to become a stem cell donor and you could be a lifesaving match for someone with blood cancer.

4th May 2013

Wonderful news - a donor was finally found for Sharon Berger who has been waiting since December for a transplant.
We wish Sharon all the best with the transplant ahead and hope she will recover from it as quickly as possible.

sharon pic2

Her family and Anthony Nolan have done amazing work on getting more people from Jewish origin to register to donate stem cells.

Thanks to all of the people who have participated in raising awareness about this - and especially to those who registered.

Jonni - her son added:
"Very pleased to have reached a major turning point in our #Spit4Mum campaign as a good stem cell match has been identified & Mum is scheduled to have the transplant in a couple of weeks, all being well. Still a long road but a massive thank you to everyone who has helped get us to here, couldn't have done it without you.

We also thank Anthony Nolan and Delete Blood Cancer for their amazing tireless work and support.
And we wish Sharon all the best with the transplant ahead now."

Anthony Nolan posted the news on their website - saying:
"The Bergers’ campaign had a huge impact on the number of people joining the bone marrow register. The campaign has so far attracted 1,191 Jewish people to join Anthony Nolan’s donor register, compared to 107 in the same period in 2012.

‘We are so grateful for every single person who has joined the register as a result of our campaign and all those who have helped in other ways. There are still people who are waiting for a match and we want more people who have been inspired by our story to join the bone marrow register.’

Ann O’Leary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, says, ‘We are absolutely delighted that Sharon has found a suitable bone marrow donor and we wish her all the best with her transplant. The ‘spit4mum’ campaign has attracted a record number of Jewish people to join Anthony Nolan’s bone marrow register. This will help us to find suitable donors for more blood cancer patients in the future. This is one of the biggest patient appeals we have had and will have a huge impact on the register in terms of the number of potential Jewish donors.’

The Jewish News - Online 2 May 2013-page-001

Further news were published in the Jewish Chronicle - as well as the blog in Jewish mother

http://thejewishmother.co.uk/a-match-has-been-found-for-spit4mum/

As a reminder: There are 2 donor registration charities which the Bergers have been working with and you can contact them to receive a kit in the post which will enable you to join the register, full details regarding eligibility etc on their websites:

If you are under 31, you can #Spit4Mum with Anthony Nolan (http://www.anthonynolan.org/Spit)

If you are 31-55 you can #Swab4Mum with Delete Blood Cancer (http://is.gd/Swab4Mum)

Her son Jonni also connected with the Waitrose branch of Brent Cross to start one of their Community Matters donation scheme.
More details on our Fundraising page:  https://mdspatientsupport.org.uk/fund-raising-2/corporate-fundrasing/