Like most 15-month-olds, little Evie loves playing in the park and eating chocolate. But unlike other children her age, Evie is depending on the generosity of a stranger to help save her life with a stem cell transplant.
On a family trip to Mauritius in October, Evie, who lives in Rochester, developed a prolonged fever and skin rash. She was air-lifted to South Africa for further treatment, where she spent two weeks in hospital. After her condition stabilised Evie returned to the UK, and doctors diagnosed her with Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (Still’s disease).
But in March they diagnosed her with severe Macrophage Activation Syndrome, a deadly condition which in combination with Still’s makes Evie extremely difficult to treat. Now doctors have told Evie’s family that a stem cell transplant is needed to save her life.
‘Beyond video calls, Evie hasn’t had a chance to meet family, friends or play with other children,’ Evie’s dad Daven says. ‘We have to wrap her in cotton wool to give her the best chance at this stage.’
‘This has been an extremely difficult journey for Evie and our family. It’s particularly hard to learn that her best chance is a stem cell transplant, but that because of our ethnicity our search for a perfect match is made more difficult.’
Ethnicity should never determine someone’s likelihood of survival, but statistics show that patients from White European backgrounds have a 72% chance of finding their best match from an unrelated donor, compared to 37% for patients from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Evie has a mixed heritage with Mauritian, Sri Lankan and South Indian roots, so we need people from South Asian backgrounds to join the register to find a #Match4Evie.
‘I urge everyone to consider signing up to the register. People from South Asian backgrounds and other minorities are really needed.’
According to the Anthony Nolan charity, there’s an urgent need for more people from ethnic minorities to sign up as stem cell donors: ‘Patients who are White Caucasian have a 71% chance of finding the best match from an unrelated donor. This drops to a 37% chance for patients from minority ethnic backgrounds.’
If you’re 16-30, please consider joining the register now by clicking here to offer patients like Evie a second chance at life.