WA teen Jamie Brown searching for bone marrow match to save his life
During leavers week last year Jamie Brown began to feel very unwell.
Celebrating finishing Year 12 at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School, he called for his mother to come get him.
He had begun feeling a bit sick during his final ATAR exam but did not suspect what was to come when he went to have a fun time with friends after finishing high school.
A diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Jamie Brown's friends have been putting up posters to help his search for a bone marrow donor.
Jamie was flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Fiona Stanley Hospital and started chemotherapy straight away.
Currently in hospital having another round of the treatment, after the first did not manage to get rid of the cancer, Jamie is hoping to find a bone marrow match that will save his life.
"The diagnosis of leukaemia in December came as a total shock to me, up until then my health wasn't something I thought much about," he said.
"Now, I am amazed by how much we all take our bodies for granted - and how hard our white cells constantly work to fight off infection.
"I would like to encourage and also thank everyone who donates blood and has joined the bone marrow registry which gives so many people lifesaving treatment and hope for a normal life."
Jamie Brown is now receiving high dose chemotherapy.
His 15-year-old sister, who is living in the town of Harvey on the family farm with Jamie's dad while mum Amanda stays in Perth with Jamie. Unfortunately she was not a match.
This year Jamie had planned to be studying engineering at the University Of Western Australia where he had won a scholarship.
Instead, the teenager with a wicked dark sense of humour, refers to 2018 as "a crap year instead of a gap year".
Mrs Brown said the transplant was her son's best chance of survival.
Via Facebook, the family was trying to increase awareness of the need for bone marrow donors.
"It might not mean a match for Jamie from WA but it might match someone else down the track," she said.
"This gives everyone something to be proactive about."
She said she wanted the community to know that being a bone marrow donor did not mean painful procedures.
A blood donation was all that was needed to get on the bone marrow registry and possibly be matched to someone who needed life-saving treatment.
Only 1 in 1500 donors would be asked to donate for a patient requiring a transplant in any given year. To give the bone marrow involved the collection of stem cells from the circulating blood stream.
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service spokeswoman Erin Lagoudakis said 600 donors across the country were needed on Easter Monday alone.
“Cancer patients use more than 30 per cent of donated blood products, while emergency trauma patients, including road accident victims, can use high volumes of blood quickly – anywhere from two to 50 or more units depending on their injuries," she said.
“To ensure these patients get their treatments this Easter, we are asking those who can to give up an hour of their time this long weekend to donate blood."
To make an appointment to give blood and get onto the bone marrow registry call 13 14 95 or visit donateblood.com.au.