Andrew Mosley: We were at Parliament House on World Blood Cancer Day to highlight the challenges faced by blood cancer patients

Andrew Mosley, Head of Government Relations & Policy at Leukaemia Foundation, shared the following post by Leukaemia Foundation on LinkedIn, adding the following:

“Blood cancer is the second highest cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia.

We were at Parliament House on World Blood Cancer Day today to highlight the challenges faced by blood cancer patients – and particularly the need for more people to register as stem cell donors.

Patients and their supporters, all of whom are passionate about the need for more stem cell donors, attended and will hopefully continue to be granted opportunities to present their lived experience to our nation’s Parliamentarians going forward.

It was heartening to see so many people attend, and so much goodwill and willingness to support this cause from passionate MPs from different sides of politics, professional athletes (thanks in particular Canberra Raiders, ACT Brumbies and Joe Roff), community organisations, clinicians and many others.

With thanks in particular to Kate Thwaites, Dr Mike Freelander, Bert van Manen MP, Monique Ryan and the Hon. Bob Katter for their continued unrelenting support for this cause. And to Speaker of the House, Milton Dick MP, for hosting.

Thanks to the large number of MPs who supported, including Gerardine (Ged) Kearney, Andrew Gee, Allegra Spender, Mary Doyle MP, Dr David Gillespie, Andrew Willcox MP, Graham Perrett, Fiona Phillips MP and Gavin Pearce for their support today.

Approximately 3/4 of stem cell donations come from overseas.

With continued and broad support we can hopefully do even more to boost the numbers of people on Australia’s stem cell registry, and thus better support those patients who need a stem cell transplant.”

Quoting Leukaemia Foundation’s post:

“Today, for World Blood Cancer Day at Parliament House, we joined the Parliamentary Group on Bone Marrow Donation to call for more Australians to register for Strength2Give.

Alongside the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, we spoke about the importance of growing the pool of young bone marrow donors and how registering to be a donor is as easy as having a cheek swab.

We also celebrated the announcement of $4 million to support growing the register, alongside the Parliamentary Group on Bone Marrow Donation – Dr Mike Freelander MP, The Hon. Bob Katter MP, Dr Monique Ryan MP, Kate Thwaites and Bert van Manen MP who’ve been raising awareness of the need for more bone marrow donors.

Thanks also to Gerardine (Ged) Kearney MP, The Hon. Milton Dick MP, Andrew Gee MP, Allegra Spender MP , Mary Doyle MP, Dr David Gillespie MP, Andrew Wilcox MP, Graham Perrett MP, Fiona Phillips MP and Gavin Pearce MP for their support today.

Head of Government Relations Andrew Mosley also chatted with former Wallabies legend Joe Roff as well as Canberra Raiders and ACT Brumbies players, who showed how easy it is to potentially save a life with a cheek swab

General Manager of Blood Cancer Partnerships, Tim Murphy said almost 20,000 people are diagnosed with blood cancer in Australia every year.

“Many of those diagnosed with blood cancer will require the services of blood donors through Lifeblood and some will require a stem cell transplant.

“Not enough young Australians are registered as stem cell donors. As a result, about 75% of all stem cell donations are sourced from overseas donors.

‘Sustained support from the Government as well as agencies engaged in blood and stem cell collection is required to increase Australia’s donor pool, and supporting or signing up for Strength2Give’s home-delivered cheek swab kit is an easy way of doing so.’

Sign up to the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Learn about our advocacy activities for blood cancer patients.

Right now, we’re seeing more and more families requesting support for the severe financial pressures of blood cancer.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Leukaemia Foundation, visit here.”

Source: Andrew Mosley/LinkedIn and Leukaemia Foundation/LinkedIn
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