Hi my name is Sheena and I will be running at the Standalone 10k run on October 5th 2014 for a beautiful lady and a beautiful cause, hold on let me tell you more...
Jaskomal Sher-gill was a bright, beautiful young woman who was initially diagnosed with tuberculosis, it was not until she underwent an operation on her lungs some four months after the initial diagnosis that the accurate cause of her illness – lymphoma – was discovered. She underwent chemotherapy and her family found out that she needed a bone marrow transplant to survive the illness.
Sadly Jaskomal died in January of 2013 aged 23. Although Jaskomal’s brother Joban (the founder of the Jaskomal Foundation) was a match for her and a bone marrow transplant took place, it was too late to save her life.
Her family and friends became aware during her illness of the acute shortage of Asian and other ethnic minority bone marrow donors on the National Register.(Only four per cent of the donors on the register are British Asian and only six per cent come from any British ethnic minority, which means that a blood cancer diagnosis if you are not white, is much more critical). Determined to honour her memory and ‘Give Hope a Future’ the Jaskomal Foundation was established in March of 2013, on Jaskomal’s birthday, to increase awareness of the need for ethnic minority bone marrow donors and to hold donor registration events for the Asian community. To date, the Foundation has attributed approximately 1,000 new donors to the register through events in and around Bedford and London and as volunteer partners at Anthony Nolan events in other parts of the country.
Please support me on my run and this amazing charity to give hope to those who are waiting for a match, help to give life by donating your blood and lets give a future to those that need life! Thanks a million in advance!
