'He left his life in England to be with me. Now I will do everything I can to save his life'

February 4, 2014
Category
For the latest data and information, visit our Facts & Stats page

The girlfriend of a British man who is seriously ill with a rare blood disorder is desperately appealing for bone marrow donors to come forward to help save his life.  Their story has touched the hearts of celebrities including Stephen Fry, Fearne Cotton and Ross Kemp, who have urged their followers to sign up.

Twenty-seven year old Ed Fox from Moseley moved to Belgium to be with the love of his life, Katrien Depecker, who he met whilst travelling in Europe.

Soon after moving to Belgium, he was taken into hospital and diagnosed with lymphoma and hemophagocytosis, a life-threatening blood disorder which was caused by a rare complication from the Epstein-Barr virus.

Doctors have now told Ed that he needs a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Ed has a rare tissue type and, despite a worldwide search for a bone marrow (or stem cell) donor, no perfect match has been found. Girlfriend Katrien has launched a global appeal for people to join the bone marrow register.

Katrien said, 'Without the help of a stem cell donor, the love of my life is going to die. That is why I hope as many people as possible will register. It doesn’t take more than donating some blood and if it doesn’t help my Ed, it might help some other unfortunate soul.'

Ed had been feeling unwell before his move to Belgium but didn’t realise how serious his condition was.

Katrien continued, 'In England he took antibiotics for the swollen gland, but a blood test showed he had a very low count of white blood cells. Once he arrived in Gent, he was immediately taken into the university hospital. He left his life in England to be with me, now I will do everything I can to save his life.'

Celebrities have joined the campaign and are encouraging their twitter followers to join the bone marrow donor register using the hashtag #helpeddonorappeal. Fearne Cotton, Stephen Fry, Derren Brown, Gary Lineker, Robbie Savage, Will Carling, Jeremy Kyle, Sara Cox, and Ross Kemp are among the celebrities supporting the appeal.

Henny Braund, Chief Executive of Anthony Nolan, the blood cancer charity and bone marrow register, said, 'Ed and Katrien’s story has touched the hearts of people all around the world, triggering a global search for a matching donor that has attracted support from friends, strangers and even celebrities. Any one of the people they have inspired to sign up to the register could go onto save a life from blood cancer.'

 

'Since we established the world’s first bone marrow register, other countries have set up their own and there are now more than 22 million potential donors worldwide. Today, when someone needs a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, we search these combined registers to try to find a matching donor, breaking down international barriers in order to save lives. In Ed’s case, a perfect match hasn’t yet been found, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there – they may just not be on the register yet.'

The charity Anthony Nolan, now in its 40th anniversary year, has been saving lives for four decades by matching remarkable people willing to donate their bone marrow to patients in desperate need of a transplant.

Joining the register simply involves filling in a form and giving a saliva sample. If you are aged 16–30 and in good health, join the register online here.

You can also follow Ed’s campaign on Twitter and Facebook.