More than 2,000 sign up to help Nelson mum with leukaemia (From Lancashire Telegraph)

More than 2,000 sign up to help Nelson mum with leukaemia

8:00am Tuesday 24th March 2009 in News By Kate Turner, Reporter

FAMILY and friends of a mother-of- two who is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant have managed to get over 2,000 people to join the bone marrow transplant register.

The Help Julie campaign has been heralded as one of the biggest bone marrow drives in the country by a national bone marrow trust, after the number of donors in Lancashire quadrupled since the search began in November.

And now the search for a donor for Julie Patefield has spread nationwide with people as far away as Jersey, Durham and Devon being told of her story.

Julie, 37, of Castle Road, Colne was diagnosed with leukaemia in October last year, and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant to rid her of the disease.

But her rare blood type means a donor has not been found.

Julie, who has two daughters, Jemima aged seven and three-year-old Annabelle, is due to have a bonemarrow transplant at the end of April with the closest match that is found to her blood and tissue type.

Her family said the response to the 'Help Julie' campaign had been overwhelming, with 2,000 people being added to the Anthony Nolan Register, the UK database for potential bone marrow donors, since the search began for a matching donor.

So far screenings have been held at Colne, Nelson, Accrington, Burnley, Jersey, Skipton and Barnoldswick, which have been extremely successful getting over 200 new people each time.

And posters, billboards and flyers have been put up throughout Pendle, Burnley, Rossendale and Blackburn.

A spokesperson from The Anthony Nolan Trust said: “The campaign has been one of the biggest we have ever seen. In Lancashire alone the number of donors has quadrupled from the 291 new donors we had from January 2008 to October 2008.

“We really appreciate all the support people are giving this campaign, it is fantastic. But we are always in new need of donors as 10,000 drop of the register each year as they become to old.

Helen Green, Julie’s close friend, who is helping to spearhead the campaign, said: "So far no matches have been found for Julie but we are spreading the campaign across the country and we are extremely hopeful that a match will be found.

The next recruitment clinics are being held at Rossendale Rugby Club at Marls Pits, Rawtenstall between 4pm and 8pm on Monday March 30 and Blackburn Fire Station ai Byrom Street between 4pm and 8pm on Tuesday March 31.