Queuing to save Oscar: 5,000 join bid to find stem cell match for boy, 5, with rare cancer
STRETCHING into the distance, it’s the type of queue you might expect for a prized concert or cup final tickets. But the record number who stood in line for hours at the weekend had a different goal in mind – to help save a schoolboy with blood cancer. Waiting patiently in the rain, almost 5,000 turned up for tests in the hope of finding a stem cell match for Oscar Saxelby-Lee. The five-year-old is in a race against time to find a donor after he was diagnosed with rare form of leukaemia in December. Doctors said his chances will ‘severely diminish’ if no donor is found within three months of chemotherapy treatment. Following an appeal by his parents, Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee, 4,855 hopefuls turned out at a drop-in session at Oscar’s school, Pitmaston Primary School in Worcester. Teachers organised the event with blood cancer charity DKMS, which will test the swabs and said its previous record was 2,200 people. About 80 volunteers worked in shifts to process each potential donor. Oscar, who has T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, has had 20 blood transfusions and four weeks of chemotherapy. But doctors at Birmingham Children’s Hospital say a transplant is his best chance of survival. The procedure will involve replacing unhealthy blood cells with stem cells removed from the blood or bone marrow of a healthy donor. Miss Saxelby, 23, said the family were devastated at his diagnosis. She said: ‘We felt like we could not see light at the end of the tunnel, but when looking at Oscar’s cheeky smile, bravery and determination, we managed to pull our strength together again. ‘From that moment of fear and confusion, we as a family became stronger than ever. Oscar reminded us how to fight again and just how courageous he is.’