Bone Marrow Appeal launched for young Julian
Massive response from Gibraltar community to Bone Marrow Donor Appeal for young Julian Baldachino
A desperate appeal was launched yesterday by the family of 15-month old Julian Baldachino.
Young Julian was diagnosed with Leukaemia at the age of 10 months. He has been at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children since April receiving multiple doses of chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, the standard chemotherapy treatment has not worked as well as expected. Julian’s only hope now is to have a bone marrow transplant. His care team in London has done a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor. A match for Julian has not been found.
Julian’s mother, Alison Baldachino, is appealing to members of the public to come forward and have their blood tested in a last-ditch attempt to try and find a match for Julian.
Gibraltar’s unique genetic background incorporating many Mediterranean/European origins may make it more likely to find a donor for Julian. The challenge that is faced is that there is a very short window of opportunity of only 6 weeks in which to find a donor.
This appeal is a first for Gibraltar. In other parts of the world, including the UK and Spain, these sort of campaigns and subsequent testing of individuals are conducted and funded by Charitable Trusts. In view of the fact that no such Trust exists in Gibraltar, and a match hasn’t been found for Julian anywhere else in the world, the Government has placed at the family’s disposal all the GHA’s services, infrastructure and personnel as well as the funding required for the exercise. Those persons volunteering to be bone marrow donors will therefore not incur any cost.
The Government of Gibraltar are fully supporting this appeal along with Julian’ family, in encouraging a full participation by those eligible in Gibraltar. Volunteer donors should be healthy and aged between 18 and 40. Potential donors are asked to phone the Bone Marrow Appeal Hotline on (350) 200 44411. This line will be manned from 9am to 5pm from Friday 17th for the week long duration of the appeal, including the weekend. Collection of blood samples will commence as from Friday at 5.00pm.
When the volunteer donor rings the hotline they will be allocated a time and date to attend St Bernard’s Hospital. Parking facilities have kindly been made available by Morrison’s at Morrison’s car park.
On arrival at St Bernard’s they will be directed to the venue and will be required to fill in a general health questionnaire. If they are found to be healthy, they will then be fully informed about what bone marrow donation entails and asked to give their consent for the blood testing.
Their blood will then be sent to a specialist laboratory outside Gibraltar and will be tested for compatibility with Julian’s tissue type. If a potential donor is found, they will be asked to donate their bone marrow to Julian. Bone marrow donation involves travelling to London for this procedure. All related expenses will be met by the GHA.
Those of you in the UK can participate by contacting the Anthony Nolan Trust, a UK registered Charity leading the way in Bone Marrow Donor registry in the UK. The procedure is simple. To find out more info on how you can help in the UK, please visit their website: Anthony Nolan Trust
This video, originally published on Adrian Sudbury’s Baldy’s Blog explains the simple procedure Bone Marrow Donors will experience:
Bone Marrow Donor procedure explained on YouTube
Facebook members may like to know a group has been created for this appeal. You can visit this Group’s page here: Support Julian fight against Leukemia
To recap… if you are in Gibraltar, the Bone Marrow Appeal Hotline is (350) 200 44411.
If you are in the UK, contact the Anthony Nolan Trust.
I hope we can help.
Good luck to Julian and I’m sure everyone will join me in sending our best wishes to him and his anxious parents and family.
Related Articles and Links:
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Facebook Group - Support Julian fight against Leukemia
Comment on this News report in our Forum topic: Appeal for Bone Marrow Donors - Support for young Julian