Grieving mother appeals for stem cell donors after son dies aged 19
A social worker from Shrewsbury, whose son recently died from blood cancer, is appealing for people to come forward and sign up to the Anthony Nolan Trust stem cell donor register.
Although still grieving for her son, Jack, aged 19, who died on February 18 this year and arranging his funeral service, Kate Fenton, aged 43, is bravely determined to help other patients.
Kate said: "Jack was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia on July 5, 2019.
"He had a stem cell transplant on October 2020 and after a public appeal more than 1,000 people came forward through the Trust to offer their names to the donor register.
"Jack was doing well but relapsed last September and we were told the transplant had failed.
"He then became the first male, and only the second person to receive Car-T Therapy, a new treatment involving a patient's own cells, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in January this year.
"However, his body could not cope and he developed a chest infection.
"The number of people who applied to join the register from the Shrewsbury area after Jack's appeal started and following advertisements in which he featured totals 1,729.
"It is absolutely amazing to find such an incredible number of people who have been inspired by Jack to apply to be potential donors.
"I now want to try to persuade more people to register as stem cell donors.
"They are needed all the time and there are just not enough people coming forward, particularly males from different minority ethnic backgrounds.
"I think that many people might not have been old enough to register when I made the first appeal and would urge anyone aged from 16 to 30-years-old to come forward to add their name to the register.
"It is an easy thing to do and a swab is taken and if someone needs a donor they search the register for a match.
"I think that it is important to create awareness of the need and in the future I would like to organise events with swab kits.
"Anyone interested in becoming a stem cell donor can go onto the Anthony Nolan website or the DKMS site for donors for people aged from 18 to 55-years-old."
There will be a private burial for Jack on March 25 followed by a Celebration of Life at 2pm at Shrewsbury Town Football Club.
