The ACLT is a 44 times award winning leading health charity dedicated to raising the awareness of the shortage of donors on the UK stem cell (bone marrow), blood and organ registers. It recruits potential donors to come forward at ACLT registration drives via (cheek swabs or blood) and be involved in the process of offering hope and a healthy future to someone whose disorder may otherwise prove fatal.
ACLT was founded in 1996 by Beverley De-Gale OBE and Orin Lewis OBE shortly after their 6 year old son Daniel De-Gale was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. He faced odds of 1 in 250,000 chances of a matching donor due to the distinct shortage of people of African-Caribbean heritage on the UK stem cell (bone marrow) register (only 550 registered at the time).
Eventually Daniel finally won his battle against leukaemia when on 16th June 1999 at the age of 12 he received a stem cell transplant from an unrelated American donor, Doreene Carney, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. This enabled Daniel to live a full and fruitful life including successfully passing his exams at school and commencing a Sports Physiotherapy degree at University. Daniel was in full remission and free of cancer, but due to complications with his health that led to multiple organ failure he died aged 21, on the 8th October 2008, whilst in hospital surrounded by his family.
Over the last 25 years ACLT has added tens of thousands of new stem cell donors & from which over 100 matching donors for sufferers have been found. In addition over 14,000 new blood & organ donors have been registered for this much needed community. The charity also provides critical support to patients and their families throughout treatment, from diagnosis to recovery and sadly (in some cases), while supporting the patient and family during ‘end of life’ care: where treatments have not been successful.
Hapi Bottles began a partnership with the ACLT in October 2021, supplying Hapi Bottles to families of the Bonded by Blood: A Mother’s Story campaign, launched in memory of sickle cell patient Richard Okorogheye. This campaign encouraged people to visitx blood donation sessions in 7 London locations, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. The campaign focused on amplifying the need for more blood donors of Black heritage to step forward, during two important dates in the Black British calendar, World Sickle Cell Awareness Month and Black History Month, encouraging Black people to book a blood donation appointment at a series of special sessions held over three consecutive weekends between 26th September – 10th October 2021.
Hapi Bottles are excited to have the opportunity to continue to support ACLT future campaigns and events.
