Patient and Donor Stories
Stories are an important way to better understand why we need greater awareness and education about the bone marrow registry and to highlight how this affects the lives of many people every day. The donor stories are also important to give others real life insight into what it's like to donate your stem cells.
All of our stories together gives us a stronger voice as Ur the Cure works towards making changes in Australia and beyond to increase the awareness and diversity of the bone marrow registry.
Patient stories
Pamela's story
Pamela's experience in struggling to find her life-saving match and the extreme lengths her family went to search for one inspired the establishment of Ur the Cure. Pamela's search led to international media coverage and she event met the President of Lebanon. Ur the Cure was created to increase awareness about the Bone Marrow Donor Registry in the hope that everyone has the same chance for a cure, no matter what their ethnicity. Click here to read more.
Emily's story
Emily is a young Australian woman who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Primary Mediastinal Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Emily needed donor stem cells for a cure however struggled to find one because of her Chinese ancestry. Emily and her family/friends created a website www.emilyneedsstemcells.com to encourage people, particularly from an Asian background to join the bone marrow registry with translated resources and more. Click here to read more.
Jake's story
"Jake is like many 12 year old boys - loves to play computer games, sports and complaining about cleaning his room!" He also has a rare form of blood cancer called "Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia" or CML. It's extremely rare in children and his only chance for a cure is through a stem cell/bone marrow transplant, however he cannot find a stem cell match due to his Samoan heritage. Jake's inspirational mother, Renee has taken the search into her own hands and created the Jake's quest for a cure Facebook page. Click here to read more.
Kere’s story
Kere was a young mother of one when she underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2012. She is now thriving and running her own successful business Loobylou Candles. Kere has teamed up with Pamela, founder of UR the Cure to support the cause that saved both of their lives. Acknowledgment and story courtesy of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry annual report 2015. Click here to read more.
Sophie’s story
“To the person who I’ve never met who saved my life”. Watch the video on the left to hear about Sophie’s heartwarming story (video courtesy of our partner Strength to Give). Sophie also started the change.org petition to introduce cheek swab testing into Australia and was one of the UR the Cure volunteers who helped hand deliver the petition and other information to the Health Ministers in Australia.
Donor Stories
Video courtesy of our partner Strength to Give
Paris’ story
10 News First reporter Paris Martin shares her experience donating blood stem cells and reflects on the impact donating had on her. Paris was inspired to join the registry after meeting a young woman with leukaemia, and while it's not common, she found a patient match in only a year after joining the registry.
Craig's story
Craig became a bone marrow donor, giving someone he'd never met a chance of recovering from a debilitating illness. He decided to keep a diary of his experiences to let others know what is involved in the donation process, so they might consider registering themselves. These are some excerpts from his diary. Acknowledgments and story courtesy of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry annual report. Click here to read more.
Andrew's story
Read about Andrew's experience when he was called to be someone's lifesaving match after being on the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry for 5 years. Click here to read more.
Tom’s story
Tom explains his experience as a donor, “having donated, I can’t fully explain how great it feels like to do so and if I should get the call again in the future, I would say yes in a heartbeat”. Click here to read more.
Acknowledgement: Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Annual Report (2016 - 2017)