Bengu Shail
was a fellow Cancer Campaigns Ambassador for Cancer Research UK. She sadly died
at the age of thirty five earlier this year after a long batter with cancer.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to know her very well but she has still impacted my
life in a positive way and I wanted to use a blog post to pay tribute to her
and help pass on the message she worked so hard to raise awareness of.
Bengu
volunteered for several charities including Macmillan and CRUK. She also
fundraised, campaigned and advocated. A lot of this was done from her hospital
bed or whilst she was undergoing treatments. I am told she had a very positive
outlook on life and was always very selfless.
Bengu was
diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in September 2009. She went into
remission after two years of intensive treatment and began working for
Macmillan as a Case Studies Officer, helping other cancer patients. Sadly she
was informed in October 2012 that the disease had returned and Bengu’s only
hope was a bone marrow transplant.
Like my
family, Bengu was from Cyprus (North Cyprus to be precise). Unfortunately
Anthony Nolan were unable to find a matching donor on their UK register.
Patients are more likely to find a match if they have a similar ethnic
background and sadly the Greek, Turkish and Cypriot community are hugely
underrepresented on the register in the UK.
Bengu herself
once said “All of us want a cure for cancer. In my case, the cure is no in the
hands of scientists, it is in the hands of my community – selfless people who
are willing to spare a few hours of their time to give someone like me a chance
to live.”
As a fellow
Cypriot I think the best way for me to honour this incredible lady is to look
into ways of becoming a bone marrow donor and encourage people from the same
background as me to do the same. The Greek and Cypriot communities are famous
for their hospitality and their sense of community. I for one have always been
hugely proud to be a Greek Cypriot and I feel if we can be helping save each
others lives by donating some bone marrow then we should be doing this!!! So if
you’re one of my fellow Cypriots – please do check out Anthony Nolan and see
how you can go about donating some bone marrow - you could save the life of a
fellow Cypriot!
Bengu sounds
like an incredible woman and I’m so sad that I didn’t get an opportunity to get
to know her. I’m also very sad that this inspiring young lady was taken in the
prime of her life. I hope others can be saved by her important message and her
memory lives on with an increase in bone marrow donors from the Greek, Turkish
and Cypriot communities.
To look into
becoming a bone marrow donor please visit http://www.anthonynolan.org/
To donate in
memory of Bengu please visit http://www.justgiving.com/remember/78465/Bengu%20-Shail
No comments:
Post a Comment