#SaveSahara
13-year-old Sahara from London is a gifted and creative girl with a love for art, writing stories and poems and playing both the guitar and violin. But just days after her 13th birthday she collapsed while out shopping and her mum Satisha says life has been ‘hell on earth’ ever since.
Sahara was diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia and had multiple blood transfusions. But doctors now say she needs a stem cell transplant to save her life and the family is desperately searching for matching donor. Satisha said: “I can only describe the last two months as hell on earth. To say it’s been a challenge is putting it mildly and now we’re potentially going down a road that we were not prepared for but don’t have a choice for either.”
Sahara’s family are appealing for people to sign up to the stem cell register, especially those who share her Caribbean heritage.
Because there is no matching stem cell donor available Sahara will now have anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) treatment to help suppress her immune system, this treatment aims to allow the bone marrow to recover and produce healthy blood cells.
Are you of black Caribbean heritage? Join the stem cell register to increase Sahara's chance of finding a matching donor.
For more information about the stem cell register and donation, please visit the page below.
“Sahara needs a transplant as soon as possible. We have been told that there’s a 60 to 70 percent that the ATG will work but that’s just to manage the severe aplastic anaemia."
Talking about her daughter’s creative talents Satisha said, “Sahara is an artist and at the age of 10 she had one of her pieces in Parliament and she has also seen her artwork displayed on a billboard for NSPCC all around London. She writes stories, she writes poetry, she plays guitar and violin. She’s an all-round creative. Her aim is to study at BRIT School.”
