You could be the stem cell donor who saves Murray Foltyn’s life

For young Jewish people between 16 and 30 years old, a simple swab inside of your mouth can test whether you are a potential life-saving donor for a Jewish father of two.

Murray Foltyn with his family. Pic: Sue Harris Trust

The Sue Harris Campaign is behind an urgent search for a stem cell donor to save the life of a married father of two.

Murray Foltyn aged 41, formerly of Hampstead, now lives in Sydney, Australia and urgently needs an unrelated stem cell donor to help save his life.

Married to Claudia and with two young children – Jamie (3 years old) and Georgia (just 9 months old), Murray’s potential lifesaver is likely to share his Ashkenazi background and have Czech or Russian ancestors. Indeed, he can trace his family back to the village of Trnava (today part of Slovakia) or Morava Ostrava (today close to the border of Poland).

He has a rare blood cancer, for which his only chance of successful treatment is with a stem cell transplant from someone with a matching tissue type. Because Murray is Jewish, a matching donor is far more likely to be Jewish too.

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you are a young Jewish person aged between 16 and 30 years old, the Sue Harris Campaign is running recruitment drives on the evening of Monday 6th March at Purim events at several sites in London and also at Jewish societies across the country.

Here are the places you can get swabbed this Purim:

Monday 6 March, evening
Aish UK Central London Purim Event
Chabad, Hampstead Garden Suburb
Ner Yisrael Synagogue
South Hampstead Synagogue
St John’s Wood Synagogue
The Jewish Learning Exchange
London JSoc Purim Party
Leeds JSoc
Oxford JSoc
Nottingham JSoc

Tuesday 7 March, evening
Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue

Thursday 9 March, evening
Moishe House Camden

If you are unable to attend any of the above, you can still potentially save a life by requesting a swab kit be sent to you by clicking here.

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