Tissue bank suggested

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33565, 20 June 1974, Page 5

Tissue bank suggested

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) LONDON, June 19.

The mother of an Adelaide boy, Anthony Nolan, aged two, whose only chance of remaining alive is a bone marrow graft, has written to the Prime Minister of Australia (Mr Gough Whitlam) requesting that a team of Australian graduates be sent to Britain to learn blood and tissue typing. Mrs Shirley Nolan, claimed the tissue typing could not be done in Australia where there were other children with Anthony’s rare blood disease who also needed bone marrow transplants to survive.

She brought her son to London nine months ago for

the life-saving’operation but financial difficulties and the shortage of trained staff has so far delayed finding a suitable donor for Anthony. “Anthony could die tomorrow. Doctors said he would die six months ago and how he’s survived this long is a miracle,” said Mrs Nolan who attended a ceremony at Westminster Children’s Hospital, where a cheque for $4868 donated by the singer, Kamahl, was handed over to the hospital. The money is sufficient to engage one technician for a year to research possible donors for Anthony but so far there have been no applicants.

Mrs Nolan now wants to raise enough funds to establish a permanent tissue bank

:|in London which could preqvent delay in operations. ; ’ “The director of the South •jAustralian Blood Transfusion i Service went on television ■i and said no-one in Australia i j knew how to tissue type. Il “We nefed an international :!set-up,” said Mrs Nolan. ij Mrs Nolan is campaigning! ;|in Britain to raise enough •Ifunds for a permanent labora■ltory and four technicians in' London. i; An anonymous English! woman has given $4868, ai ; pharmaceutical company hasj ■ promised $Bl2 and there have i been a number of smaller i private donations. The people of Featherstone, Yorkshire, where Mrs Nolan lived before moving to Australia, are also trving to raise $lO,OOO.