‘Outstanding’, ‘inspirational’ and ‘monumental’ – that is how we described the response from the Isle of Wight community to our appeal in the Autumn of 2013 for Finley, a little boy from the island. Finley, aged 6, had been diagnosed with Leukaemia in the previous April. He had undergone intense chemotherapy and his family were told that he needed a matching blood stem cell donor. Described by his parents, Carole and Jason, as “a happy-go-lucky little boy, who enjoys doing what all other typical boys like to do”, they contacted us to start an appeal to find Finley a suitable donor.
‘Outstanding’, ‘inspirational’ and ‘monumental’ – that is how we described the response from the Isle of Wight community to our appeal in the Autumn of 2013 for Finley, a little boy from the island.
Finley, aged 6, had been diagnosed with Leukaemia in the previous April. He had undergone intense chemotherapy and his family were told that he needed a matching blood stem cell donor.
Described by his parents, Carole and Jason, as “a happy-go-lucky little boy, who enjoys doing what all other typical boys like to do”, they contacted us to start an appeal to find Finley a suitable donor.
Together we ran a media appeal and recruitment events to encourage people to join the UK Stem Cell Registry in the hope of finding a match for Finley, or someone else with a blood cancer.
There was a huge response to his appeal, with thousands of people from the Isle of Wight registering their interest in joining the registry. On one day alone, 2,211 people swabbed and a small army of volunteers from the island helped us register all of these potential donors.
There was also a great effort to raise funds to cover the registration costs costs for new donors. An incredible total of £16,638.78 was raised through the appeal, enabling us to cover the costs of registering 416 of the new donors.
The Isle of Wight community really showed their support for Finley’s appeal.
Caroline Portlock, our Head of Donor Recruitment, said:
It’s fantastic to see thousands of people register to show their support, everyone on the Isle of Wight should be extremely proud.
Carole and Jason were both delighted and astounded at the support for their son’s appeal: "Jason and I have been totally overwhelmed by the support from everyone. It really does prove that we live on a lovely island."