Formby resident Kevin Dunne won a Prestigious YOUR HEROS AWARD from Trinity Mirrors Southport Visiter Newspaper at an Awards Ceremony held in the Ramada Hotel Southport on Wednesday 24th January.
The annual Awards are sponsored by The SCOTTISHPOWER FOUNDATION and Kevin was presented his Award by Ann McKechin from Scottishpower.
Kevin won his Award for his dedication to raising Awareness about StemCell Transplants and the Urgent need for more StemCell Donors to give Blood Cancer Patients a second chance of Life.
His tireless fundraising for the UK based and the first Bone Marrow Donor Register in the world the Anthony Nolan Also DKMS.org which is international.
Kevin also supports the Royal Liverpool Hospital who have the Reginal StemCell Transplant Unit.
It all began four years ago when Kevin’s wife Mary was diagnosed with Leukaemia and had a StemCell Transplant from an anonymous unrelated Donor from the USA found by the Anthony Nolan. Then nine months later Kevin’s brother Tony was diagnosed with Servere Aplastic Anaemia this is were the Bone Marrow stops working an extremely Rare but Deadly Blood Disorder which only effects one or two out of a Million people every year.
Initially there wasn’t a match on any of the Worldwide Registers. Despite his advancing years the hospital asked Kevin to be tested as a match for Tony but warned there Was only a 25% chance that that he would be a match and even then he might only be a half match.
Incredibly Kevin and Tony matched like identical twins much to the amazement of the hospital.Kevin went ahead with donating his StemCells and literally Saved Tony’s Life who is now fully recovered
The brothers then founded STEMCELLSCOUSERS IN October 2015 and in addition to raising money they also engage within the community and Kevin recently gave a talk to the Myeloma UK West Lancs and Merseyside support group based in Parenting2000 on Mornington Road PR9 0TS. This year is Myeloma UKs 21st Birthday and they have a full program of events planed full details from > david@ainsdale.demon.co.uk
Kevin also started a Twitter account #STEMCELLSCOUSERS and now has 1600 followers world wide. He uses the platform to retweet StemCell Donor Appeals for patients from around the globe. Last year he was contacted by the @findtanadonor appeal in AUSTRALIA for help and Kevin is still supporting that appeal
STEMCELLSCOUSERS have now recruited two Formby councillors Denise Dutton and Gemma Peace to the team and has support from Liverpool MP
Louise Ellman but Kevin URGENTLY wants to recruit more Volunteers. Contact Kevin at kevindunne2@googlemail.com
OTS News on Social Media