Rajie, an eleven year old who was all set to join the county cricket team to fulfil his dream in November last year, was diagnosed with Leukaemia, a type of blood cancer which means that his immune system does not work correctly. Since the time he was first diagnosed, he has been through an initial phase of chemotherapy to which he seemed to respond well. However, he had a relapse in March this year, days before his 11th birthday. The doctors concluded that the standard treatment was not enough at this stage and that Rajie's best chance was a to find a stem cell donor. No matching donor has been found yet.
Rajie, from Hertfordshire, loves the great outdoors (not to mention his love of Star Wars) and has a huge passion for cricket. His friends and family describe him as a boy with a big heart and an even bigger smile. People from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity (BAME) in need of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant have just a 21% chance of finding a perfect donor match and only a 60% chance of finding a partial match to potentially save their life. Childhood leukaemia affects children of every ethnic group but only 16 percent of donors on the stem cell register are from Asian or other minority ethnic backgrounds currently.
Actor and singer Diljit Dosanjh, during his performance at his concert 'Con.Fe.Den.Tial' at the SSE Arena, Wembley on 26th May, also spread the word about children from BAME suffering from Leukaemia in the UK. He urged the 6,000 audience members at the Arena to register as stem cell donors with DKMS or Anthony Nolan, organisations helping people diagnosed with blood cancer. Many of the people registered themselves on the spot.
We appeal to people from South Asian community to come forward and register with Bone Marrow registry at the NHS, DKMS or Anthony Nolan to help these children gain a chance of survival.
