In order to make it to her second birthday, Gracey requires an urgent stem cell transplant, but can’t do it without your help!
Western Cape, South Africa (14 March 2022) – Gracelyn (Gracey) Green – an adorable toddler from Atlantis, Cape Town, hopes to win over the hearts of thousands of strangers throughout the country in a desperate plea to save her life.
The fourteen-month-old was diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML) – a rare cancer of the blood that affects young children, and her only chance of survival is a stem cell transplant. Gracey is termed as an emergency transplant case, which means there’s no time to waste. After several blocks of chemotherapy, the aggressive form of leukaemia hasn’t abated.
In order to make it to her second birthday, she requires an urgent stem cell transplant, but can’t do it without your help! Gracey’s family has launched the “Save Gracey” campaign to help raise funds to cover the escalating medical bills and to ramp up donor recruitment efforts and testing to save her life.
Donors are urged to register as stem cell donors or donate to amplify donor recruitment efforts spearheaded by the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR).
Gracey is most likely to find a tissue match among people of colour, but according to the SABMR, only 7.9 percent of donors on their registry fits the bill. Give Gracey the gift of life by registering as a donor and/or making a financial donation to bolster efforts to find her a matching donor.
“In most cases, family members, especially siblings, are generally most suitable, but even then, only 30% of patients are lucky enough to find a suitable match among their relatives. That’s why we must cast the net wider to the public to find the best possible match,” Zaahier Isaacs, Acting Head of Patient Services for the SABMR, explains.
Due to the family’s financial circumstances, all testing and collection of stem cells will be funded via the SABMR’s Patient Assistance Programme, so they don’t need to be burdened further with any medical expenses. Everything is in place; now we just need a donor match.
“Brave little Gracey has already endured three blocks of chemotherapy that have been unsuccessful. She was diagnosed last August, and time is running out. We are relying on the kindness of a stranger to come to her aid.”
Crowdfunding on BackaBuddy
To raise the estimated R500,000 needed to find Gracey a suitable stem cell donor, the SABMR, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on donations crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy, hoping the little one will be able to celebrate her second birthday.
Funds raised will be used to procure additional buccal swab kits (testing kits) and cover the costs of donors’ medical tests in the hopes to save Gracey’s life.
“When we see little children carrying such heavy burdens, we can only hope and pray that the donor community will open their hearts to lighten the load. Right now, little Gracey is waiting for her miracle, and we know that her knight in shining armour is out there,” says Catherine Du Plooy, BackaBuddy COO.
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