When Daniel De Gale was six he developed leukaemia. His mother, Beverley, was told that he could recover completely if he had a bone marrow transplant. Only problem is that suitable donors are scarce for black youngsters...
 Daniel |
When Daniel was six he developed flu-like symptoms. His mother, Beverley, took him to hospital three times where he was prescribed mild pain killers. But Daniel continued to complain of aches and pains in his legs, raised glands and bruising on his body. Beverley took him back to the hospital and insisted they carry out further tests.
Tests revealed that Daniel was suffering from eukaemia. The hospital told them that if they'd waited another week, he'd probably have died because the leukaemia cells had infiltrated his blood system very severely.
Daniel was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia). Beverley was told that about 70% of children can be completely cured after five years. He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital where he had a bone marrow check to determine the type and severity of the leukaemia.
For the first six months, Daniel had intensive chemotherapy which lasted two years. He was still able to go to school during the treatment but was in and out of hospital. Eventually they were told by the hospital, "go home, enjoy life and try and forget".
But then at the end of 1995, Daniel suffered a relapse. A routine blood test revealed leukaemic cells again. The hospital suggested that the best way forward was a bone marrow transplant. But then they were told that "The chances of you actually finding a match for Daniel are very, very slim" - in fact 1 in 120,000. The reason for this was that there were only about 500 black people on the UK register.
 Bevereley, Orin and Daniel |
Beverley and her partner Orin decided they just couldn't wait for a match to come in and took the matter into their own hands. They decided to campaign within the black community to raise awareness of leukaemia and bone marrow transplantation. The intention was to get members of the black community to join the bone marrow register.
This was not an easy task. Beverley says, "We hit lots of walls. People just weren't interested. But when you're trying to save your son's life, 'No' is not a good enough answer." They just kept on and on. At the time, Beverley worked for the 大象传媒 and she was in contact with the Black Forum Group. She was put in touch with Pat Young, Senior Producer for a programme called Black Britain.
Black Britain put Beverley in touch with the Anthony Nolan Trust who keep the largest register in the UK of bone marrow donors. She was told by the Trust that during the its 24 year history, they had only been able to recruit about 550 black people onto the register.
But Beverley believed she would have more success. She says, "Because we are black, we understand our people and we understand the fears and myths". She decided to talk to the black community, and to set up bone marrow registration clinics.
 Bevereley and Daniel |
But then they hit a snag. While Beverley's charity was recruiting people onto the Anthony Nolan Trust register, the Trust was paying for those samples to be tissue-typed - 拢50 a time. The publicity was so good that they couldn't cope with the demand.
The Anthony Nolan Trust put her in touch with another company who would tissue type on their behalf and put the details on their register - but at a reduced cost of 拢28 per sample. Beverley and Orin ended up with a bill of 拢100,000 which they paid for by donations.
And eventually they found a match for Daniel! Initially, Beverley was very dubious because a previous match had dropped out because the procedure does involve a certain amount of discomfort for the donor. Daniel had the transplant on 16 June 1999 and was back at school 6 months later. Beverley and her family never met the donor, but knew that the donor was a 45 year old woman.
It was a very dark period for Daniel. He was in a lot of discomfort because to have the transplant he had to have extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to wipe out his existing bone marrow cells. He also spent a lot of time on his own because he wasn't allowed to come into contact with anything that might cause infection. Daniel says that it's good to be back at school "doing normal stuff" and hopes to be a TV presenter one day.
More Information
Beverley's charity is called the and the phone number is 020 8667 1122. They became a registered charity in 1996 and got some well-known faces on board to help them put the message across. The Duchess of York heard Daniel's story through Beverley's media campaigning and became one of the charity's patrons. She took the message to America through the Oprah Winfrey Show. Beverley was also able to get black footballers Ian Wright, John Fashanu and John Barnes on board. There are now approximately 14,000 black people on the register.
