Family calls on East Asians to help by donating much-needed stem cells

The family of a Chinese leukaemia patient in the United Kingdom has launched an urgent appeal calling for the East Asian community around the world to become stem cell donors.

Yvette Chin, 41, from London has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare aggressive blood cancer, and has just months to live unless a donor can be found.

Her brother, Colin Chin, 48, and sister-in-law Serena Chin are urging more people in the Chinese and East Asian community to register as stem cell donors to increase the chances of saving her life.

According to charity Anthony Nolan, which works in the areas of leukaemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, 75 percent of UK patients will not find a matching donor in their families.

Only 72 percent of patients from white Caucasian backgrounds can find the best possible match from a stranger. This drops to 37 percent for patients from a minority ethnic background.

Yvette, who was diagnosed with the disease in May 2021, needs to have a stem cell transplant with a 90 percent genetic match.

The family hopes more people in the East Asian community in the UK and internationally can sign up to a bone marrow register to help Yvette and others in a similar position.

"Our family has registered but it's not enough. I hope if more people from the community know how quick and easy it is to do, and that it's literally lifesaving, we can find a match," Colin said.

"Not just for Yvette, but also for others who don't have time to wait. I'm asking for everyone to sign up and share #SwabForYvette on social media to spread awareness that we all have the power to save lives with a simple mouth swab."

Yvette's sister-in-law Serena hopes their campaign will help more people in ethnic minority groups gain a better understanding of what being a stem cell donor involves.

"When we looked into it, we realize Yvette isn't the only one in the community who needed this and that others are waiting for a donor, waiting for that second chance of life," she said. "Of course, we hope we find a match for Yvette, but I hope also we help save other people's lives as well who are in the same situation."

Yvette, a keen explorer who has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, has been in and out of hospital for chemotherapy since her diagnosis last year. She took part in an experimental trial but in February she was told the trial had failed.

"After the trial, the leukaemia came back with so much ferocity and we still don't have a match, my brother wasn't a match and that was the reality that it was going to be difficult," Yvette said. "It feels like the stars have to align so much with me being in remission and finding a match."

Reshna Radiven, head of communications and engagement at DKMS UK, an international nonprofit bone marrow donor center, said ethnic minority communities are massively under-represented, especially the Chinese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black-African and Black-Caribbean communities.

"There is an element of hesitancy, for some of the communities we know they don't trust the health system or the system generally in the countries that they're resident in," Radiven said. "But there is also a fundamental lack of awareness of the need for stem cell donors and the impact a stem cell donation can have for a cancer patient."

She added more work needs to be done to communicate and encourage people to become donors.

"You're very likely to find a match from a donor who is from the same ethnic community as you, so it's really important for all people to be represented in the register," Radiven said. "We offer the family and the patient hope, which is really significant when you're in a very difficult situation.

"In a world where we're trying to bridge the gap of inequality, we just want to get the word out there to encourage more bone marrow donations and blood too," Yvette said.

"I feel like the East Asian community has trepidation about doing that, so if they don't do it for me, then do it for someone else and bridge that stark statistic between our white Caucasian counterparts and everybody else."