A FORMER top flight-footballer, who lost his son to cancer, has teamed up with a West Belfast charity and Translink to promote stem cell donor awareness.
Eimear's Wish has launched a new poster that will appear on Translink's Metro bus fleet, with the campaign coinciding with World Cancer Day.
The poster tells of the personal tragedy of former Everton, England and Glasgow Rangers footballer, Gary Stevens, whose son Jack (4) died before a lifesaving stem cell donor could be found.
The footballing legend is calling on all supporters of sport to get behind the Eimear’s Wish stem cell donor awareness drive.
Eimear's Wish was founded by Seán Smyth in 2019 following the death of his daughter, Eimear Gooderham (nee Smyth).
Eimear was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in September 2016, and died in June 2019 due to complications from a stem cell transplant. Her dying wish was that more people would join the Stem Cell Donor Registry.
Over 1.8 million people live in the North, but only 2.7 per cent of the population are registered as stem cell donors.
Speaking about the launch of the poster campaign, Séan said potential stem cell donors could give a "wonderful gift" to someone with cancer.
He said that the campaign will aim to help save lives, adding that "there will be other Jacks".
"Jack was only three when his family started their campaign – he hadn't even had his first day of school," he said.
Eimear found a donor, but Jack never did. The thought of that family losing their child at four years of age is heartbreaking.
"This is happening, this is real. People seem to think 'it won't come to us' – I was there. There was no history of cancer in my family, we had nothing to worry about there, but it did come.
"I would encourage everybody to join the register. All you have to do is a cheek swab – it's not anywhere near like these Covid tests. It's a cotton bud in cheek, which gets posted away and that's it done. Most likely, you'll never be called, but it could be the one. It only takes one person to save a life. One person can make the difference. You could be the difference."
As part of the Eimear's Wish Campaign, All Saints College have come on board to promote stem cell donor awareness amongst its pupils.
Anyone between the ages of 16-55 and in general good health can become a potential blood stem cell donor.
The healthiest stem cells come from people aged between 16-30. Young men in this age group make up only 16 per cent of the Anthony Nolan register, but they provide an astonishing 55 per cent of all donations.
You can register as a Stem Cell Donor at Anthony Nolan (www.anthonynolan.org), and DKMS (www.dkms.org.uk).
