A mix-raced student from London, England who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia has found an extremely rare bone marrow donor after her global campaign #Match4Lara went viral.
Lara Casalotti, 24, was told by her doctors that her best chance at living was a stem cell transplant.
But because she is of mixed Thai and Italian heritage, the chances of finding a donor match were like finding a “needle in a haystack.”
That’s because only 3 per cent of stem cell collected from bone marrow donors are of mixed race.
The viral campaign, which caused a spike in bone marrow donors, was supported by big names like J.K. Rowling and Stephen Fry.
Lara said she is thankful she found a donor.
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“It’s kind of incredible and amazing to think that this person is one in 25 million,” she said in a YouTube video.
“I know that there is a long road ahead but I want to thank every single person who’s been behind the #Match4Lara campaign.”
But Lara says there are still plenty of people waiting to find their mixed race donors.
“This campaign has been not just about finding a match for me but diversifying the donor registries and just getting more people in the registries in general.”
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