Daniel De Gale (b. 14 March 1987) inspired a major push to promote awareness of leukaemia in the United Kingdom's black community when, as a child, his mother and stepfather launched a search for suitable bone marrow donors and a charity. Events 1489 - The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Leukemia or leukaemia (Greek leukos λευκός, "white" aima αίμα, "blood" is a Cancer of the Blood The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the hollow interior of Bones In adults marrow in large bones produces new Blood cells It constitutes 4% of
De Gale, raised in the London Borough of Croydon, was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 1993 at the age of six. The London Borough of Croydon ( is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. Daniel was put on a 2 year course of chemotherapy which he completed in March 1995. Chemotherapy, in its most general sense refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells specifically those of micro-organisms or Cancer. But after being in remission for just 9 months, he relapsed in December 1995, when a routine blood test revealed leukaemia cells again. Remission is the state of absence of Disease activity in patients with known Chronic illness. A relapse (etymologically "who falls again" occurs when a person is affected again by a condition that affected them in the past A blood test is a laboratory analysis performed on a Blood sample that is usually extracted from a Vein in the arm using a needle, or via With no assurance that a second course of chemotherapy would be successful his mother, Beverley De Gale, sought a bone marrow transplant for Daniel.
With only 550 African, African Caribbean, and people of mixed parentage on the UK register, this made Daniel’s chances of finding a match within the UK as little as 1 in 250,000. The British African Caribbean community are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were indigenous to Africa The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from different races. Beverley and her partner, Orin Lewis, then set up the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust to raise awareness, and to support and assist Black and Mixed Parentage people suffering with Leukaemia and all other blood related cancers. The African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust is a charity based in England that aims to raise awareness of leukaemia within the African Caribbean community in the United Kingdom The charity also became involved with recruiting potential donors from many influential organisations such as the Fire Brigade, the Black Police Association, colleges and universities. Fire Brigade redirects here For the general term please see Firefighter.
De Gale was given a second course of chemotherapy but in September 1998 he suffered a second relapse. Subsequent publicity encourage various celebrities to help encourage possible donors to come forward. Celebrities such as John Barnes, Colin Salmon, the Duchess of York, Ian Wright and John Fashanu offered their support and subsequently became patrons of the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963 in Kingston Jamaica) is a Jamaican born former professional English Colin Salmon (born December 6, 1962) is an English Actor known for playing the Fictional character Charles Robinson in Duchess of York is a title held by the wife of the Duke of York since the first Duke of York in 1384 Ian Edward Wright, MBE (born 3 November 1963 in Woolwich, London) is an English former professional footballer who won the Golden John "Fash" Fashanu (born 18 September 1962 in Kensington, London) is a British Television presenter and
In 1999 after six years of treatment a matching donor was found, Doreene Carney in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. [1]. Michigan ( is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This has led to De Gale being able to go on to living a 'normal' life preparing himself for his GCSE school exams at Archbishop Tenison's C of E High School. The General Certificate of Secondary Education ( GCSE) is the name of an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject generally taken in a number of subjects by Tenison's School is the name of two historic British schools located in South London, England, named after their founder Thomas Tenison:
Daniel was one of the first black persons in the UK to receive a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. Because of this fact many sufferers and their families are now coming forward as donors and receiving support from the ACLT.
External links
- African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust
- Cancer Active article on De Gale
- De Gale's story on BBC Radio 4's Home Truths
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