Public asked to UNITE to save Bobby's life

Eight year old Bobby Browne from Bessbrook urgently needs to find a stem cell donor and time is not something he has the luxury of. Bobby has been living with leukaemia since early 2022 and in recent weeks the call has went out asking for people to sign up to the stem cell donor register to help him receive a life saving blood stem cell transplant.

A suitable match has yet to be found and in an effort to expand the search UNITE the union have got behind the search and are launching a campaign to get many more people to sign up to the stem cell register and ultimately find a match. UNITE have over 1.4 million members so it is hoped that by reaching these numbers the chances of a match will be greatly multiplied.

Locally in recent days thanks to Newry charity Caring Coins over 50 people have availed of training to enable they to carry out swab tests the length and breadth of the country

Currently Bobby is back on steriods and chemotherapy "This is a hard week on him. He has had five days of hard steroids and they really wreck his head. I've a wee eight year old boy telling me that he's hearing voices in his head." his father Danny explains.

"That's just the steroids and medication. It's just unfair for him, it's just totally wrong but he has to get it and that's where we are. The bigger drive we get and the more people sign up, the higher chance we find this for him."

Danny adds "Bobby's great, he doesn't complain. We're over a year fighting this and the child has never complained once. he just takes his medication. There's some days he has to take 11 tablets."

Bobby is a pupil of St Joseph's Primary School Bessbrook but he hasn't been able to get to school much this past year. His parents try to get him there for an hour or so at times but he hasn't been fit to go this past week as he's just too tired.

Danny hopes the involvement of UNITE will bring the potential of large firms organising swab days on their premises  "It's just opened up so may different doors for us." he said.

Martin McKeown Newry Unite Community Chairperson is a neighbour of the Browne's and has known Bobby since he was a child - "getting the football out of his garden" his dad adds.

Speaking on the launch of Unite’s campaign to help locate a bone marrow donor for Bobby, Martin said “In recent weeks I have attended a number of events in support of the Browne Family, to help locate a bone marrow transplant for their young son Bobby. One such event was organised by local Charity, Caring Coins. I was taken aback by the community’s response, the room was absolutely full to the rafters.The event was a huge success with fifty volunteers coming forward and receiving training on how to administer swabs and fill in the relevant paperwork; each volunteer is prepared to travel the length and breadth of this island to find a donor for young Bobby Browne”

Life or Death situation

Martin continued “ Witnessing such selflessness, got me thinking, how can we as a Union facilitate those on their quest. Unite have been involved in many Community Campaigns across these islands and quite a few locally, Daisy Hill Hospital and The Park at the Albert Basin to name a few. Our members, 1.4 million of them come from the community. What happens locally, effects us all. After talking with Danny, the father of Bobby, it became obvious that we need to get this campaign spread out over a much wider area, so in the coming days we will be contacting each and every Unite member across these islands and asking them to sign up and get their families to sign up as a matter of urgency. Time is of the essence, it saddens me to say this, but this is a life or death situation!”

Martin continues “No one knows when leukaemia is going to come knocking at our doors, we can only hope it never does, joining the register gives us all a fighting chance; you may not be a match for Bobby, but you may be a match for another child who is going through this living hell. Please join the register, Unite to save a life!”

Danny Browne concludes "I think if we push more for getting people signed up and the awareness of it that's the important bit for us at the minute. Time is of the essence for us."

This Saturday 13 May from 11am-1.30pm at Madden Community Centre, DKMS are holding a swab event. All are welcome.

You can find out more about becoming a stem cell donor and sign up to the register at www.dkms.org.uk