By Alexia Saoulli
NEARLY 14,000 blood samples were collected in the search to find a bone marrow match for five-year-old Turkish Cypriot leukaemia sufferer Jale Sakaoglu.
The 11-day donor drive, which ended on Sunday, resulted in 13,460 samples from both sides of the Green Line, said a very satisfied Bicommunal Forum representative, Marios Ioannides. The first 5,000 samples’ results should be ready by next week, organisers said.
“The figures exceeded our wildest dreams. It was more than we could have thought, imagined or calculated,” he said.
The campaign, which had originally been scheduled to last five days, started on Thursday, March 6. Following increasing support from both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the deadline was twice extended, finally ending on Sunday.
“If we could have, we’d have continued it further,” said a clearly exhausted Ioannides. This was the second such donor campaign on the island; it was organised by the Bi-communal Forum, Doctors of the World, Karaiskakio Foundation, the United Nations and the Kemal Saracoglu Foundation.
The clock has now started ticking, as doctors have said the girl does not have long to live without a transplant. The Karaiskakio Foundation (the Cyprus bone marrow registry) is working against the clock to find a tissue match before it is too late.
Doctors of the World added that three Greek Cypriot leukaemia sufferers, also in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant, could also benefit from the extra surge in donors.
But also significant was the fact that Greek and Turkish Cypriots were able to set their differences aside and come together in support of a humanitarian effort.
“This campaign started before The Hague and yet people continued to come and donate samples of blood (after the effort had collapsed),” he said. “This is the people’s referendum and the sample is their blood. The results say that everyone is in a position to work together and save the life of a compatriot. If they can perform this vast humanitarian act, they are in a position to live alongside each other and co-operate together. The buffer zone was revived and people came together and showed the superiority of their humanity.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
