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Twenty four year old Olly Rofix will meet the man who saved his life on January 30th, when the man who donated his bone marrow will travel to Ipswich to meet him for the first time.
Olly, from Woodbridge in Suffolk, was diagnosed with a rare unnamed form of leukaemia in November 2005.His brother was tested to see if he could provide the bone marrow Olly needed, but his tissue type did not match, leaving Olly to rely on The Anthony Nolan Trust’s register.
Olly said, “I was only the third known person in the world to be diagnosed with this form of leukaemia.I thought that was pretty cool, until they told me the other two were dead.But I was lucky and I received the transplant two days after my 21st birthday.What a brilliant present!”
The Anthony Nolan Trust recruits people to its bone marrow donor register – the most successful in the UK.It was in 1995 that Matthew Hall, 39, joined the register after a local appeal for a young woman who worked in Matthew’s local take away shop.
Matthew, a carpenter from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, said, “Because I heard that appeal, I decided to join the register, as did my wife, Karen. But no match was found for her and she passed away leaving a young family.When I knew I could actually help someone, there was no way I was going to say no.The Anthony Nolan Trust made it really easy for me and I consider myself lucky to have been in such a position to help.I hope that someone would do the same for me if they had the chance – it’s something anyone else would have done.”
The Anthony Nolan Trust policy states that it may be possible to arrange contact between a patient and donor, but only after two years have elapsed and after initial instigation by the patient.Olly commented, “I want to meet Matthew, to say how very grateful I am, and fortunate that he was there!”
The meeting is at Suffolk Yacht Harbour as Olly is embarking on an ambitious fundraising and awareness event in May 2011 as a thank you for the help and support he has received from Anthony Nolan. Olly plans to sail the boat he bought just before his transplant, 'Jolly Olly' , around the British coastline single-handed. Olly will start from Ipswich and head up the eastern coastline, stopping at various ports to raise awareness and funds.
