Above: Charlie (right) with his dad
17-year-old Charlie is a keen boxer and has just qualified as a chef in the Royal Navy. He was about to start his submarine training when he was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia. Now he urgently needs to find a matching donor for a stem cell transplant.
Charlie will need regular blood tests and transfusions to stabilise his condition until he finds a donor for a bone marrow transplant. Two things make it slightly more complex: Charlie has a rare blood type, and he is from Asian heritage which makes finding a donor potentially more challenging. Therefore, we are asking for people to register, you might be that person who can help Charlie in this time of need.
Charlie's family
#CharlieisBuiltDifferent
If you're aged 16-30 you can give Charlie, and others like him, hope for a second chance of life by joining the stem cell register.
Earlier in the year Charlie’s training was going well, but then he started to make little mistakes at work, he was struggling to get out of bed, and he was finding training more difficult despite always having been physically fit. We noticed his low mood, fatigue, and forgetfulness over the summer leave period which we put down to him being stressed at work.
Charlie was given some leave and his concerned mum, Danielle, took him to their local GP. A full set of bloods were taken and later that day the family received a call to tell them that Charlie’s blood results were dangerously low, and he needed to be admitted to hospital straight away. At the hospital Charlie was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia and this is where his transplant journey begins.
Please donate today and help us make sure we can be there for patients like Charlie.
Make a donation
A gift of £5 a month helps build a stem cell register that gives everyone the best chance of survival.
A gift of £10 a month helps lifesaving transplants to happen – giving as many people like Charlie as possible a second chance of life.
A gift of £15 a month could help pay for our umbilical cord collection programme – making little lifesavers of babies only minutes old!
£15 goes a long way to helping our scientists conduct ground-breaking research that will save lives over the next 50 years.
£40 could sign up a new lifesaving stem cell donor who could go on to save a life like Charlie's.
£90 could pay for three hours of invaluable support from a post-transplant nurse for patients and families.