Kelvin Kararwa, a 24 year old Business Systems student,
studied at University of Portsmouth for 4 years and lives
in Morden South London.
In March 2012 Kevin started having a cold and flu like
symptoms that was not healing. It lingered for 3 weeks. At
the time Kevin was a student at the University of
Portsmouth studying a 4 year degree in Business Systems
and also working part time at Carphone Warehouse in
Portsmouth.
Kevin's mother Veronica Kararwa was deeply concerned
that every time they spoke on the phone she noticed that
a cold and flu was still there. She questioned him about it
and kept asking if he had seen a doctor. Kevin promised
he would see a doctor and at the end of the second week
he told her he had seen a doctor and been prescribed
antibiotics. Veronica thought that was it, however, by the
following week she still noticed his cold and flu when they
spoke on the phone. Veronica asked him how come he still
had the cold after taking antibiotics but he reassured his
mother that it was getting better.
As a mother and a nurse Veronica was very worried and
so she advised and urged him to go and get a blood test.
Kevin listened and went to see a doctor and requested a
blood test.
The 20th April was Veronica's birthday and they agreed
Kevin would be coming to London for his mother's
birthday. This happened to be the day he decided to go for
the blood test. He had his blood test in the morning before
travelling to London in the afternoon. On the train on his
way to London Kevin received a call the Queen Alexandra
Hospital in Portsmouth and was advised to immediately go
back there as soon as possible. He was informed that they
suspected leukaemia in his blood.
Kevin's mother, Veronica was at home cooking and excited
for her birthday as well as looking forward to seeing
Kevin when she received his call, he sounded very
distressed and was unable to inform his mother of this
alarming news. He handed the phone to his girlfriend who
was with him, both were deeply distressed
Kevin and his partner immediately returned back to
Queen Alexandra Hospital and Veronica, her friend and
her other son Ian followed them to the hospital from
London where the diagnosis was confirmed and a plan of
treatment was put in place. All of their worlds changed
from that day....
Kevin was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
(AML), an aggressive life-threatening blood cancer
Since then Kevin underwent his first course of intensive
chemotherapy but he did not go into remission, so he had
to undergo a second but much more intensive course of
chemotherapy. He was in Queen Alexandra Hospital for 4
weeks before being transferred to Kings College Hospital
in South London to be near to family and friends. He went
into remission following the 2nd bout of chemotherapy
course of treatments and was discharged from Hospital at
the beginning of August 2012 with a plan to go back for a
cord blood transplant.
Kevin recovered very well, was attending
outpatient appointments twice a week and
optimistic of the prospects of having a cord
blood transplant. He was transfused with 2 cord
blood donations in October 2012 and everything
seemed to be going ok for the first 11 days, on
the 12th day he collapsed and things went
downhill from there on.
Kevin experienced a very bad case of Graft V's
Host Disease (GVHD) which left him critically
ill and fighting for his life. The family prayed
and the community prayed for him and after a
long stay in hospital the doctors thought the
hospital environment was not doing him any
good so he was discharged at the end of April
2013 with a plan to attend out patients
appointments 3 times a week. At home Kevin
needed a lot of support. Kevin slowly recovered
with the help of family and friends. All seemd
to be going well.
In the first week of September 2013 Kevin
participated in a sailing exercise that had been
organised by a coordinator for young people
with leukaemia. When Kevin came back he had
developed a bad case of cold/flu. It was treated
when he went for his regular appointment at KCL.
However, like before this cold/flu lingered and Veronica
started to worry about it but kevin would insist it was
getting better. Kevin went for his once a month routine
appointment and blood tests at KCL in October 2013,
revealed the leukaemia had come back.
This was devastating news for Kevin, his mother Veronica
and his family and friends. He has since received 2
further courses of highly intensive chemotherapy and the
doctors have said he needs a bone marrow transplant
from an un-related ‘healthy' donor to beat the disease.
There are currently no matching donors on the world
bone marrow registries.
The only option the doctors have at present is to conduct a
half-match donor transplant from his brother Ian or his
mother. This process will only have a 10% chance of
success
The odds of finding a Black donor match are around 1 in
100,000 - that's like finding 1 person out of a packed-out
Wembley stadium.
Kevin's parents are from Kenya, East Africa; a genetically
matched donor of similar ethnicity offers him the best
chance of finding a donor.
Kevin's family are deeply concerned the East African
Community will not support a campaign by Kevin
Kararwa to sign up new potential donors. Historically
very few East Africans have signed up to become potential
donors; they either don't know, are fearful or have been
misinformed about how simple it is to donate bone
marrow cells. However, Kevin believes that his
community will support kevin's appeal to find life saving
donors.
Time: 10.30am till 4.30pm
ACLT Office
7A Rathbone Square
Tanfield Road
Croydon
CR0 4HA
CLICK HERE to see how you can register and be a
potential bone marrow donor. Thank You
CLICK HERE to make a financial donation to Team Kevin
Fundraising
A ONE AND ONLY MATCH4KEVIN DONOR DRIVE WILL
TAKE PLACE: Sunday 24th November. Time: 4pm till
6.30pm. Venue: Presbyterian Church of East Africa, St
Matthews Church, Dyson Road, London E15 4JX
ALTERNATIVELY, IF YOU WISH TO REGISTER AS A
POTENTIAL BONE MARROW BUT CAN'T ATTEND THE ABOVE
DONOR DRIVE PLEASE VISIT OUR OFFICE IN CENTRAL
CROYDON
Please call ACLT office to book a 30 minute appointment.
Tel no. 020 8240 4480
TEXT DONATION : TEXT 'KEVK89 3' (TO GIVE £3), 'KEVK89
5' (TO GIVE £5) OR 'KEVK89 10' (TO GIVE £10) TO THE
NUMBER 70070
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A MUST-SEE BACKSTAGE MOMENTS:
THIS WEEK AT THE SPORAH SHOW
STUDIOS
Team Sporah: Morning Meeting Before Production
TEAM SPORAH
SETTING THE STAGE READY FOR THE SHOW
All Done..
Mr DJ doing sound check.
SORTING OUT THE KITCHEN BEFORE GUEST
ARRIVAL
KAREN ORGANISING HER MAKE UP DEPARTMENT
BEFORE GUETS ARRIVAL
IT'S TIME TO STRIKE A POSE...ON
OUR FAMOUS WALL
TANZANIA CONVENTION UK TEAM 2013
THE BIG HOUSE THEATRE COMPANY TEAM
AMRITA AND BOBBY
GUEST WALKING INTO THE STUDIO
SIGNING RELEASE FORM
Helping Mama and Papa Signing the release form.
ITS TIME TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL
WITH KAREN SALANDY
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