Blackburn resident launches campaign to help find Asian stem cell donors

8:30am Thursday 8th August 2013 in News By Chloe Glover, Reporter

Saima Ashraf with her plea for Rayaan

A MAJOR drive to encourage the Asian community to donate stem cells has been launched in East Lancashire to help save the life of a young boy.

Blackburn resident Saima Ashraf, 30, has spearheaded the campaign to find a donor for six-year-old Rayaan Siddiqui after being shocked to find out that fewer than three per cent of Asian people in the UK were on the stem cell donor register.

Rayaan, from Welling, in Kent, who was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, has a fight against time to find a donor to treat the condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

With a need for stem cells almost identical to his own for treatment to be effective, the best chance of finding a suitable match lies within someone of his own ethnic background.

Ms Ashraf, who works as an auditor at Thornton General, was compelled to head the search in Lancashire after hearing about his condition on a radio show.

According to recent statistics, only 50 per cent of people with the disease ever manage to find a matching donor.

She will hold a drive in conjunction with Delete Blood Cancer UK in Blackburn on August 31 to register people who will then be checked to see if they provide a match for Raayan.

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Blackburn resident launches campaign to help find Asian stem cell donors