New stem cell donor appeal to save loving father

Monday 04 March 2019

The family and friends of a 38-year-old father, with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer, are calling for islanders aged 17 to 55 to come forward as a part of their hunt to try and find a stem cell donor for him.

Local gardener Tony Ferreira has Sézary Syndrome, a rare form of lymphoma, and his wife Osvlada has been championing the search for a potential lifesaver since he was diagnosed in October 2017

The couple met when they were 14 years old and have lived in Jersey for over a decade. Neighbours in their native Madeira, they became childhood sweethearts, then husband and wife, and parents of their daughter – they are hoping to find a suitable donor to save Tony’s life.

Last summer, Osvalda teamed up with blood cancer charity, Anthony Nolan, and appealed for islanders to register as stem cell donors. 223 islanders swabbed their cheeks in a large-scale lifesaving drive to find a stem cell donor for Tony, and another islander who was suffering from a particularly aggressive form of blood cancer, Leukaemia. 

Pictured: Tony and Osvalda met when they were 14 years old.

Despite the tremendous response from the community, no suitable match was found for Tony. Along with Osvalda, he travels to London every two weeks for his treatment and he is struggling hard to manage his condition. Having had to stop working because of his ill health, he spends time with his family and keeps up with his hobby, watching football matches.

To help give him a new lease of life, Tony's friends and family are holding a second donor registration event – this time with the help of DKMS. The blood cancer charity can accept more registrations, as its register is open to donors aged 17 to 55, while the first event, held by the Jersey Friends of Anthony Nolan, was only open to people aged 16 to 30. 

Pictured: Osvalda showing her family how to swab their cheeks.

It is hoped that a suitable donor can be found in that wider age range, and islanders in "general good health" are urged to come to St. Thomas’s Church Welcome Centre this weekend, 09 and 10 March, between 10:00 and 18:00 to register as stem cell donors. 

Osvalda said: “Please come along to our event this weekend and register as a stem cell donor in support of my husband. You might be a match for him or someone else in a similar situation.

"Tony is a caring husband and a loving father who is a rock-solid support for our family. He is asking for your help to get back to good health again. We are so grateful that so many people came forward last summer, but we are still looking, and DKMS are helping to give us a second chance of finding a match."

Pictured: The registration event will take place at St. Thomas' Church. (Google Maps)

Sreeparna Roy, Donor Recruitment Manager at DKMS, explained  that only one-in-three people with a blood cancer in the UK and in need of a lifesaving blood stem cell transplant will be find a suitable match within their own family. "It’s vital that more people register to become potential lifesavers," she added. "Being of Madeiran origin, people from that and other Portuguese descent may be more likely to be match; but matches are not ethnically specific, so we are appealing to everyone in the community to come forward.

“If you are aged between 17-55 years old and in general good health, please come to the event and register as a lifesaver."

Those unable to attend the registration event can instead register online for a home swab kit.” 

Pictured: The Jersey Friends of Antony Nolan have teamed up with the Jersey Football Combination (JFC) to getlocal footballers onto the donor register.

The new call comes a week after the Jersey Friends of Antony Nolan announced a partership with the Jersey Football Combination (JFC) to encourage local footballers to join their register. 24-year-old islander, Ben Hick, who received a life-saving stem cell donation six years ago, told Express how the donation had an extraordinary impact and helped him return to a normal life.