Sue Harris Trust wins award for promoting stem cell register among ethnically diverse

The Sue Harris Campaign has won an award for its efforts to highlight the need for more stem cell donors within the Jewish community.

The charity, founded by the late Sue Harris and her friends in 1993, was honoured with the Minority Ethnic Advocate Award at the annual Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards (ANSAs) on the 14th June at the Tower of London.

Anthony Nolan, formerly known as the Anthony Nolan Trust, saves the lives of people with blood cancer.

The Minority Ethnic Advocate award is presented to a supporter who has championed the Anthony Nolan stem cell register within minority ethnic communities, encouraging people from within these groups to join the register and support Anthony Nolan’s work.

The ANSAs have been taking place since 2013, and this was the first in-person awards since 2019 due to the pandemic.

In the last 12 months, The Sue Harris Trust has heavily focused on recruitment and advocacy in ethnically diverse communities, for Anthony Nolan, for patients and for donors. Their events have included a successful Jewish Swab Week in 2022, the return of their recruitment campaign in Israel and introducing Anthony Nolan to Luton council, leading to the successful delivery of Luton Swab week.

Lionel Salama, Secretary of The Sue Harris Trust said: “We are honoured to receive this recognition for our efforts to ensure that all patients, regardless of their heritage, receive an equal a chance of an unrelated donor.

“We are very proud of our work in the Jewish community over the last 30 years and are ready to help other ethnic minorities achieve similar success in recruiting stem cell donors. With the urgent appeal for a life-saving donor for London Jewish patient James, the best way to celebrate this award would be for anyone aged 17-55 to come forward to get swabbed. Just visit sueharristrust.org for a list of swabbing events or to order a postal swab kit.”

Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan, said: “The Sue Harris Trust is a hugely deserving winner of this award; the charity’s incredible support and passion for our work is a fantastic example of our charity, which is built on making lifesaving connections.

“By building the stem cell donor register we are curing blood cancer together. We can give families hope and give more people a future”.

The Sue Harris Trust has been raising awareness of the need for more stem cell donors within the Jewish Community for 30 years. It was started in 1992, when 30-year-old law student Sue Harris was rushed into hospital with severe stomach pains.

She was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, and soon after began the campaign to find her stem cell donor.  At the start of her campaign, there were only 48 Jewish people on the register; by the end, Sue had helped to recruit more than 15,000.

A donor was found for Sue but, two days before she was due to have her transplant, the donor was unable to proceed for medical reasons. By the time she received her transplant from a second donor, it was too late, and the transplant was unsuccessful. Sue passed away on February 19th, 1997.