Finding a donor match can be a long process
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A young leukaemia sufferer has called on the Scottish Executive to fund a campaign encouraging more people to sign up as bone marrow donors.
Millie Forbes, 20, from Donside, Aberdeenshire, was diagnosed in August 2002 with acute myeloid leukaemia.
An international search backed by
comedian Billy Connolly resulted in a donor being found last week.
Ms Forbes' plea for funds was presented to Holyrood's petitions committee.
She had spent six months undergoing chemotherapy at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and after going into remission it was thought she had beaten the disease.
But a routine blood test this summer found that her leukaemia had returned, prompting the search for a life-saving bone marrow or stem cell transplant.
A petition co-sponsored by Millie's Campaign and the Anthony Nolan Trust was presented on behalf of Ms Forbes, who is now in hospital facing months of specialist treatment.
"She asks that you please help save the lives of her fellow sufferers by
asking the Scottish Parliament to run a campaign explaining to the public how
simple and how vital the giving of bone marrow and blood stem cells is," Geva
Blackett, of the campaign, told MSPs.
"This simple action will encourage potential donors to sign up to a bone
marrow register and save thousands of lives.
Billy Connolly helped Ms Forbes in her search
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"We also ask you to urge the Scottish Executive to recognise and support
organisations like the Anthony Nolan Trust, currently undertaking work in
Scotland to recruit bone marrow donors."
Ms Blackett said Millie's Campaign had now raised just over �100,000, all of
which was going to the Anthony Nolan Trust.
Anthony Nolan Trust chief executive Dr Stephen McEwan told the MSPs the
charity was bidding to increase public awareness among Scots and also gain
financial support from the executive for the provision of more facilities for
Scottish donors.
The trust's register currently holds 345,000 people in the UK, 7% of whom come from Scotland, which also contributed over 2,500 recruits in the last year, he told
MSPs.
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Whatever progress has been made, it's obviously not enough
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Dr McEwan said being a bone marrow donor was "a positive life experience"
but said more was needed to encourage others to register, particularly among
young men and ethnic minority communities.
Labour backbencher Mike Watson said the executive had promised two-and-a-half years ago to work with their counterparts at Westminster and produce plans to broaden the range of people coming forward as donors.
The committee agreed to his suggestion that they write to the executive asking what progress had been made on that commitment.
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