{"id":8127,"date":"2015-01-16T11:08:40","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T11:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/golden-gift-of-life\/"},"modified":"2015-01-16T11:08:40","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T11:08:40","slug":"golden-gift-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/16\/golden-gift-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Gift of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Father’s Search for Cure<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The selfless strangers who donate their stem cells are \u2018like gold dust\u2019, according to Jaso Manokaran, a 29 year old father of two from Harrow, who is searching for a bone marrow donor to save his life after being diagnosed with leukaemia. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Jaso started to feel unwell in October, experiencing severe pain in his bones, starting in his shoulders, and also had fever-like temperature. After a trip to the GP, Jaso was given painkillers but the pain kept returning and became unbearable. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Jaso says, \u201cThe pain came back again and again, we had to call ambulance twice in the same week. My GP said we will do a blood test and I was advised to go to hospital. When I got there I collapsed, I couldn\u2019t manage the pain. I was rushed to A&E again and had a bone biopsy which revealed I had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a viral infection, I didn\u2019t expect it to be cancer at all. When my consultant said I had leukaemia, I was crying like a river. I couldn\u2019t really hear what he was saying, I was so worried. We started the chemotherapy soon after.\u201d <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n


\n <\/p>\n

From the very start of Jaso\u2019s treatment he was told that he needed a bone marrow transplant. Because Jaso has no siblings who could be a match, he is reliant upon finding a match from stranger on the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Jaso says, \u201cIt felt like a double dose of bad news. I had no idea what a transplant was, I had so many questions: How will I get it? Where will I get it? How will I find a match?\u00a0 I was so worried. \u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s not in my hands, I can\u2019t run around and get it myself –\u00a0 I need a stranger to save my life. Anyone who signs up to the register is priceless, not only to me but to\u00a0 everyone waiting for a transplant. These people are so selfless and special, they\u2019re like gold-dust.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As Jaso is a Sri Lankan Tamil, his odds of finding a match are reduced because of a lack of donors from the same ethnicity. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Currently, only 60% of transplant recipients receive the best possible match, and this drops dramatically to 20.5% if you\u2019re from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background, as these communities are underrepresented on the Anthony Nolan register. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It was after learning that Jaso needed a transplant that his wife, Jasmini, kick started the \u2018Help Save Jaso\u2019 campaign to recruit more people to the register especially people of Tamil and Sri Lankan community. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n


\n <\/p>\n

Jasmini says, \u201cIt\u2019s been a scary time for all of us but I was so inspired to get going for Jaso. I have found that many people from my community don\u2019t know how to sign up to the register and many myths around donating have come up. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people think it\u2019s a big operation or involves lengthy surgery because of the word \u2018bone\u2019 but this is not true – now the process is usually just like giving blood. This is why we want to raise awareness to help sign up more Sri Lankan Tamils and save more lives.\u201d <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Lynsey Dickson, Regional Recruitment Manager for Anthony Nolan says, \u201cWe want to find the very best possible match for everyone like Jaso who needs a transplant. By building and diversifying our register we will be able to provide the best match to even more people with blood cancer like Jaso.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat many people don\u2019t realise is how easy it is to join the bone marrow register \u2013 it simply involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. 90% of donations take place via peripheral blood stem cell collection.\u00a0 This is an outpatient appointment and is similar to donating blood.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

If you are aged 16-30, you can sign up to the Anthony Nolan register at www.anthonynolan.org<\/span><\/a>. To follow\u2019s Jaso\u2019s story go to \u2018Help Save Jaso\u2019<\/span><\/a> on Facebook.<\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/span> \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father’s Search for Cure The selfless strangers who donate their stem cells are \u2018like gold dust\u2019, according to Jaso Manokaran, a 29 year old father of two from Harrow, who is searching for a bone marrow donor to save his life after being diagnosed with leukaemia. \u00a0 Jaso started to feel unwell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}