Sunderland Echo

Save your tears: sign up instead

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Tears flowed when Chloe Gray sang Don’t Worry About a Thing as she accepted a thoroughly deserved Child of Courage award, but you can keep your tears.

What Chloe needs to ensure a future with fewer worries is a swab of your saliva.

Tears are understand­able: A DNA match is vital.

Chloe suffers from a rare and debilitati­ng condition called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia.

She has been told by doctors she needs a lifesaving bone marrow transplant by the end of the year.

For her family it’s an overwhelmi­ng and desperate situation, but they have faced it, just like their daughter, with immense courage and, importantl­y, a determinat­ion to do all within their power to get Chloe back to health.

We heavily promoted a recent bone marrow donor day in The Bridges, encouragin­g people to turn up and have swab taken to find a match.

You responded in your droves.

Chloe has been on the register with the Anthony Nolan Trust and the charity KDMS for well over a year, but no match has been found.

In her lifetime, she has undergone more than 100 blood transfusio­ns, the first of which took place when she was still in the womb.

Chloe is beyond the transfusio­n stage, and a bone marrow transplant is now critical.

Like her mum Francesca, and her family and friends, we won’t rest until a match can be found for this seven-year-old girl.

Signing up is simple and painless, and there’s a chance you could be a match. Your tears for Chloe are appreciate­d, but they won’t save her life.

Sign up today.

 ?? By Richard Ord ??
By Richard Ord

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