A family’s desperate appeal to save their father’s life has more than doubled the numbers of bone marrow donors across the country and hit the headlines worldwide.
Three sisters from Wimbledon turned to Facebook to find a match for father Rob Ireland who was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer and has a five per cent chance of survival unless they find a stem cell match soon.
Georgie, 23, Emma, 28, and Sophie Ireland, 26, decided to launch the appeal after discovering no one matched the tissue type of their 57-year-old father.
Rob Ireland with wife Melanie and daughters Georgie, Emma and Sophie
Now the Facebook page Give Our Dad a Bone; Marrow Transplant, has been liked more than 8,000 times from people all over the world and the family have been interviewed on television, in newspapers and radio stations.
The charity Anthony Nolan credits the brave family with a sharp increase in people registering as potential donors for the former triathlete and Coca-Cola executive.
There was a 123 per cent increase in people registering with the charity in one week – 2,221 more people in the week following the campaign, compared to 998 people the week before it launched.
Incredibly, 807 of those came from Facebook, compared to 89 the previous week, a spokesperson said.
The family were shell shocked when Rob was diagnosed with a rare lymphoma in June last year, after experiencing weight loss and night sweats.
Rob completed a regime of chemotherapy at St George’s Hospital and responded well.
Follow up radiotherapy was undertaken at the Royal Marsden in the hope the cancer had been knocked into remission.
Unfortunately it is now back.
Georgie said: “Dad’s always lived his life by turning negatives into positives and making people smile – he’s drilled it into us ever since we were little, and it seems his persistent use of the words ‘positivity’ and ‘initiative’ have actually rubbed off over the years.
“We all felt helpless at first but then we realised how simple it is to save a life by joining the Anthony Nolan register and we thought, wow, there’s something we can actually do to help."
“We set up the page to try and help Dad and others in the same position, but we never expected this level of support – we’ve had messages from friends all over the world who have joined their country’s register.
"Dad had no clue we'd set this up and we only showed him the page a few days ago - he was literally blown away.”
The executive and former triathlete had raised his daughters with the mantra “there is no option but PMA (positive mental attitude)”, so they ensured their Facebook campaign had a humorous and upbeat message.
Georgie wrote: “Those who have the pleasure of knowing our Dad, know he is truly an amazing, inspiring (albeit incredibly odd) man.
“Testament to his character of being quite literally a one-off, he (Rob) has outdone himself by apparently having an incredibly rare tissue type and having no match in the UK (good one Dad!).”
Rob’s positive attitude has also extended to Georgie’s gap year goals.
Initially, she put her plans to travel to Central America on hold but Rob has insisted his daughter goes.
She said: “He is practically pushing me out the door, saying you have to go. He told me it would make him so much happier to look at photos of me travelling on our family What’s App group, instead of (seeing me) through glass while he’s in isolation in hospital.”
If you’re 16 to 30 years-old and in good health you can join the register online at www.anthonynolan.org. You can also donate £3 to Anthony Nolan by texting HOPE to 80010.
If you are over 30 join the Delete Blood Cancer UK register at www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk
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