Former Everton, Rangers and England star Gary Stevens has teamed up with Translink to support a local man’s wish to raise stem cell awareness.
The ‘Eimear’s Wish … creating hope campaign’ has been driven by Eimear’s father Sean Smyth and they have launched a new poster in a bid to help attract young men to join a stem cell donor registry.
Eimear Smyth, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2016, died on June 27, 2019, following complications from a stem cell transplant.
Her dying wish was that more people would join the Stem Cell Donor Registry. Anyone between the ages of 16-55 and in general good health can become a potential blood stem cell donor.
Gary Stevens’ own son Jack died at the age of four last November before a life-saving stem cell donor could be found and he has put his support behind the ‘Eimear’s Wish’ campaign.
Eimear’s father Sean said: “Gary’s story highlights how important it is. His son’s life could have been saved if there had been a stem cell donor.
“Everyone knows about organ donation and giving blood but people don’t think about stem cell donation, or know about it.
“Around 2,000 people here will need a stem cell donor at some point. Only for what happened Eimear, I wouldn’t know what it was even.
“She loved football. The reason we are targeting this area is because young men from 16-30 produce the most stem cells and the strongest stem cells.
“Also, if someone gets pregnant you can’t donate for 21 months so that’s why we have put a big focus on sport and sporting bodies.
“The Irish League and all 12 clubs are behind us, Antrim GAA, Ford football club, Greenisland and others. A couple of schools as well.
“All we want is to raise awareness, get the banner inside the grounds and make people aware how important it is and how easy it is.
“Even if you got every person in Croke park signed up on one day, that’s 84,000 people, less than 100 would eventually be able to donate, that’s how difficult it is to find a match.
“But what we need is to give people a chance. It broke my heart to see what Jack (Stevens) went through, he wasn’t given a chance because they didn’t find a donor. He had been sick for two years and didn’t even get to live for his first day at school.
“We supported their appeals and contacted them then and they said they were happy for us to use the image with Gary and Jack. His profile will help raise awareness and especially in sports cubs and young men.
“This can arrive at anyone’s door. If it can happen to him and happen to me then it just shows you that.
“Because of the campaign, we have done we know of nine people who have become donors. That’s bittersweet after what happened Eimear but it’s brilliant. We have to give people hope, give them a chance.
“It’s not about money, we just want sports clubs to get this message out on their social media, in the grounds to raise awareness. Get the banner up, if you can’t afford the banner we can help with that. Just give us a call.
“We have to give people hope, give them a chance if they ever do need stem cells.”
The banner will appear on Translink’s Metro bus fleet from today and their Belfast Area Manager Damien Bannon said: “We are committed to supporting our staff who do great work within the community. Sean Smyth, a retired member of staff has worked with many of our employees to raise awareness of this worthy charity and we are pleased to be able to help by placing posters in support of Eimear’s Wish across our entire Metro fleet.
“Eimear was a bright young woman who bravely shared her story to help others and we are delighted to help support Sean in delivering on Eimear’s Wish to raise awareness of stem cell donation and encourage others to sign up to the register.”
Over 1.8 million people live in Northern Ireland yet only 2.7% of the population are registered as stem cell donors.
The healthiest stem cells come from people aged between 16-30. Young men in this age group make up only 16% of the Anthony Nolan register, but they provide an astonishing 55% of all donations.
You can register as a Stem Cell Donor at Anthony Nolan (www.anthonynolan.org), and DKMS (www.dkms.org.uk).
Registering is a simple, pain-free process. When you register a swab kit will be sent to you in the post. Using this kit you swab the inside of your cheek and post back. Donation can be as simple a process as donating blood.
More information on Eimear’s Wish campaign can be found at https://eimearswish.org or contact: eimearswish@outlook.com
