Incredible couple Robin and Jolandie from Mpumalanga are driving across the world in a motor home with a life-saving mission in mind! They’ll drive for a decade to find donor matches from all over the world to give people fighting for their lives a real chance.
Nelspruit, South Africa (26 July, 2023) — Robin Lewis and his wife Jolandie are gearing up for a 10-year, 64-country journey. No typical nomadic travel experience, their mission has a life-saving route aptly named ‘Matches on the Map’.
The husband-and-wife duo were inspired to take on this project following Robin’s own lifesaving experience. When Robin was diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia—a genetic DNA repair disorder that may lead to bone marrow failure, leukaemia and or solid cancerous tumours—he got a one-in-a-billion break. The only matched donor available for him in the world was a haploidentical (partially matched) transplant. However, it saved his life.
“If it wasn’t for the stem cell transplant, I would not be here today. Since then, we’ve been plotting ideas of how to raise greater public awareness around stem cell donation, and that’s how ‘Matches on the Map’ was born,” Robin shares.
The couple decided that the only way to help more people find their ‘needle in the hackstack’ would be to increase the amount of ‘needles’ (stem cell donors).
The pair, who will start their Matches on the Map journey from their hometown Nelspruit in August, will be travelling an estimated 110 000 kilometres through Africa, Europe, and Asia in their one-of-a-kind custom-built motor home affectionately known as ‘Betsy’.
With the converted old fire truck kitted out to run on ‘used’ cooking oil, the journey will also be a sustainable one.
Together with their noble steed, they hope that they can help patients who find themselves in a similar situation to Robin’s past experience by finding matches for people while en route. The big objective is to sign up as many donors as they can in partnership with the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) from every continent they explore, starting in Africa.
Beyond upping donor numbers, they also hope to add diversity to the SAMBR as well as registry databases in the countries they visit.
Robin says planning the Matches on the Map expedition has taken hundreds of hours of research, looking at routes, locations, border crossings and safety concerns. At the same time building Betsy which has taken up the most part of four years.
However, during the big build-up, they’ve already managed to do a lot of good by creating support groups.
“After my transplant five years ago, my wife and I started planning the trip with the hope of changing the world. Our plan was very ambitious, and we soon realised that we couldn’t do it alone. As Fanconi Anemia nearly claimed my life, we decided that we would also focus on establishing support groups for patients with this disease as we make our way through various countries, meeting up with families that are affected, and sharing their stories.
“Building the truck has taken us four years and we can’t wait to get on the road with Betsy and officially get the Matches on the Map project underway. We’re very grateful for the SABMR, who will be assisting us with stem cell donor kits, documentation, export and import logistics, marketing efforts and support every step of the way. They’ve been 100% behind us since day one.”
If you’re in Nelspruit, you can join the send-off for this inspiring expedition this Sunday (and even meet Betsy) at The Market @ Friends Café.
Or, keep up with their journey via social media here!
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