The friends of Champion Irish rower Paul Giblin are campaigning to encourage people to register to become a bone marrow donor this December.
The name Paul Giblin will ring a bell for many in Irish sporting circles, but for those who don’t know who he is, he is a 17-times Irish rowing champion and one of Ireland’s most talented athletes.
Paul was a medalist at the World under-23 Rowing Championships and the World Student Games, while in an impressive couple of seasons on the cycling circuit, he rode the 2010 Rás and also competed at the World Para Cycling Championships as the sighted pilot in the tandem event.
In April 2012, Paul, from Galway, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is currently undergoing his fourth regime of chemotherapy, having also had an autologous (own) stem-cell transplant and radiotherapy.
Unfortunately the chemotherapy treatment he is currently receiving will not cure him, it will just buy him time.
The only chance that anyone with Paul’s condition has of being cured is if a suitable Bone Marrow/Stem Cell donor can be found on the Global Registry, the pool from which all donations are drawn. Paul needs to find a bone marrow match before January and there are currently no matches available.
Friends of Paul have launched the #MarrowMatch campaign on social media and also a purpose-made website with a view to significantly increase the number of bone marrow donors to give people in Paul’s situation a fighting chance.
However, this is a gift that will keep on giving which, some day, you or a loved one may need and benefit from.
In December 2013, with his Cancer in remission for a second time, Paul proposed to his beautiful girlfriend Cate and got married earlier this month in Connemara, Galway.
If you do go ahead and register, attend a clinic for testing and go on to become a bone marrow donor, mention this connection (to a fellow rower/cyclist/colleague/friend with refractory Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in need of a suitable Bone Marrow/Stem Cell donor).
Every name on the register could potentially help somebody who needs that most special of all gifts, life!
For more information, check out the marrowmatch website, their Facebook page, Twitter account and the #marrowmatch hashtag on Twitter.
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