I donated, and felt amazing – so can you: Wolverhampton businesswoman backs Team Margot

Rajbinder Kullar, 37, who donated last year, features in an ongoing photography exhibition in London organised by Team Margot and London City Hall’s Peer Outreach Team.

Mother-of-two Rajbinder joined the register thanks to her relationship with members of Team Margot – and has urged others to do the same.

Margot Martini died from two rare types of leukaemia in October 2014, and her story inspired thousands and led to the creation of the Team Margot Foundation by her family and friends.

The charity aims to increase the number of people on stem cell registers so those with blood cancer have a greater chance of survival by finding bone marrow donors.

Rajbinder, from Wolverhampton, said she believes a lack of donors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds comes from a lack of education, and said she has been moved to make people think again. She encouraged others from BAME backgrounds to sign up.

Rajbinder said: “There aren’t enough donors from Asian, black and mixed race heritage and we need more. It’s not the case at all that if you become a donor, something bad is going to happen to you.

“I think the problem is a lot of people from BAME backgrounds have not come across the register and there can be a lack of education.

“My own mother wasn’t too happy about me donating because she was scared for me.

“She said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? What if something happens to you?’ “But after my donation I felt fit and well.

“I felt amazing, that I could possibly have done something like that and saved someone’s life. I don’t understand why I wasn’t on the register 20 years ago.”

The exhibition runs until Friday (nov24)BAME patients have only a 20.5 per cent chance of finding the best possible donor match, compared to 69 per cent for northern Europeans.

A blood stem cell donation from a genetically similar person can often be the best hope of survival, but only one in three people in need of a transplant will find a matching donor in their own family.

Margot’s mixed family background was the key difficulty in finding her a perfect match.

The Team Margot Foundation has the goal to get more than 1.5 million extra potential bone marrow donors to take the total to 2.5 million.

The foundation will also raise money and support the work of five charities – Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Delete Blood Cancer UK, Anthony Nolan, Shooting Stars Chase, and Momentum.

Margot, whose family hail from Essington near Wolverhampton, was just 14 months old when she was diagnosed with both Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in October 2013.

The Team Margot Foundation is campaigning to significantly increase the number of people on stem cell registers.

Yaser Martini, father of Margot, said of Rajbinder’s words: “In my mind Raj and many other donors out there are model citizens. They heard that someone needed help, understood what could be done to assist and then took action to sign up as a potential bone marrow donor.

“They then and went on to“Importantly, Raj and all the other donors went on to actually donate their peripheral stem cells when called upon to do so, overcoming any apprehension that they might have felt and in spite of family and other pressures or forces conspiring against them” I am proud to know Raj and to call her a friend.”

The Power of One photography exhibition centres on a collection of portraits of donors and is on show at London’s City Hall until Friday.

For information on the campaign, visit teammargot.com