Urgent London bone marrow appeal to help Turkish Cypriot mother of two

NEWS/UK TURKS

The TRNC London Office has made an appeal to help find a matching bone marrow donor for a Turkish Cypriot diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer. Mrs Letife Çavuşoğlu, aged 49 is the mother of Hale Çavuşoğlu, who works as a secretary at the TRNC London office. She recently found out she has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia – the same disease that Bengu Shail bravely battled against.

Letife Hanim, formerly a pharmacist at Chase Farm Hospital, is currently having chemotherapy treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant. The Turkish Cypriot Doctors & Dentists Association UK, supported by Delete Blood Cancer (the UK arm of DKMS – the biggest donor centre in the world), has launched a campaign to quickly help find her a life-saving donor.

Two donor testing events are being hosted in London next month with British Turks and others originating from the Mediterranean region aged between 18-55 years old and of good health invited to attend. The testing process is simple: register your personal details and provide a saliva sample, which all takes just a few minutes. The samples will be tested to see if they match with Letife Hanim. Details will also be held on the donor database of Delete Blood Cancer in case it can help others fighting this deadly disease.

Donor test days and locations:

• SOUTH LONDON: Saturday 8 February between 10:00-12:00 at Rauf R. Denktaş Turkish School, Blackfen School for Gırls, Blackfen Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 9NU

• NORTH LONDON: Sunday 9 February, Sunday between 12:00-14:00, Hornsey Atatürk School, Hornsey School for Girls, Inderwick Road, LondonN8 9JF

Please attend if you can and do circulate this news to others – you really could help save a life.