The #MarrowMatch campaign aims to get Irish people to register this December, and hopefully save some lives in the process.
The friends of Paul Giblin, one of Ireland’s most talented athletes, are hoping to save his and others’ lives by increasing the number of potential Bone Marrow / Stem Cell donors on the Global Registry.
Paul, 31, who is a 17-time Irish rowing champion and also competed in the 2010 cycling Rás, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in April 2012 and is currently undergoing his fourth regime of chemotherapy, having also had an autologous (own) stem-cell transplant and radiotherapy. Unfortunately the chemotherapy treatment he is currently receiving will not cure him, it will just buy him time.
The only chance that anyone with Paul’s condition has of being cured is if a suitable Bone Marrow / Stem Cell donor can be found on the Global Registry, the pool from which all donations are drawn. Paul needs to find a bone marrow match before January and as things stand, there are no matches.
Friends of Paul have launched the #MarrowMatch campaign on social media and a purpose made website with a view to significantly increasing the number of bone marrow donors, something that would give people in Paul’s situation a fighting chance. However, this is a gift that will keep on giving which some day you or a loved one may need and benefit from.
In December 2013, with his cancer in remission for a second time, Paul proposed to his beautiful girlfriend Cate and the couple are due to be married this Saturday (6th Dec) in Connemara, Galway.
If you do go ahead and register, attend a clinic for testing and go on to become a bone marrow donor, mention this to anyone you can; a work colleague, a family member, or a friend. Every name on the register could potentially help somebody who needs that most special of all gifts, life!
For more information, you can follow Marrow Match on Facebook or keep up with them on Twitter, and don't forget to use the twitter hashtag #marrowmatch to help spread the world globally.
