Fundraising walk to raise awareness about leukaemia
Circle of Life campaign by students aims to increase number of registered bone marrow donors
ABU DHABI Scores of Abu Dhabi students will hold a fundraising walk at Zayed Sports City next month as part of an initiative called Circle of Life to raise awareness about leukaemia.
A blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow, leukaemia claims nearly 257,000 lives annually. Twice as many are diagnosed with the disease each year.
Circle of Life was founded in 2011 by ex-American Community School student Nadeen Issa, 18, when her best friend was diagnosed with leukaemia and couldn’t find a donor. The group aims to raise awareness of the importance of bone marrow donation to leukaemia patients.
Bone marrow registry
“My Arab friend was suffering but she couldn’t find a match. Out of the 15 million registered bone marrow donors that time, only 45 were Middle Eastern,” recalled Issa, now studying at the University of Chicago. “So I decided to do something about it and started the Circle of Life campaign,” the Palestinian-American student added.
Over the past five years, Circle of Life has raised Dh200,000 from fundraising walks in Abu Dhabi. All proceeds are sent to the US-based Leukaemia Research Foundation. However, educating people on the importance of bone marrow donation and garnering support hasn’t been easy for the student-run group. Convincing corporates to pitch in with funds has been no less difficult.
“Initially, no one would take us seriously, but now things are changing,” said a Circle of Life member.
Reem Ayoub, 16, who is currently leading the group, said she is expecting a huge turnout at the May 13 event.
“We have teamed up with US-based Be the Match Foundation. They are giving us swab kits to aid bone marrow registry. “Our Marrow for their Tomorrow is our motto. We want people to understand that the procedure of donating bone marrow is easy; you can be a life-saver,” said the grade XI Jordanian-American who joined Circle of Life when she was just 10. “The atmosphere at the walk will be ecstatic. We have got food and game stalls to create a festive look,” she added.
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