'Life priceless’— donor

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34021, 9 December 1975, Page 2

'Life priceless’ — donor

(N Z Pr«» Assn—Copyright) LONDON, Dec. 8. Malo loane the Samoan who could save the life of an Adelaide toddler, Anthony Nolan, is in the hands of British doctors after a 21-hour mercy flight from New Zealand. Mr loane, a 23-year-old Christchurch Hospital laboratory technician, has a rare tissue type and blood group which matches Anthony’s. Doctors plan to transplant bone marrow from Mr loane’s hip to Anthony, whose own marrow does not produce

enough infection-fighting white blood cells. Anthony, who has been in Britain with his mother for more than two years waiting for the right donor, has defied medical experts who predicted he would not live beyond two years. “How could I not give the kid a chance?" a bleary-eyed Mr loane replied to reporters at Heathrow Airport. "Dr Booth, the director of Christchurch Hospital, asked me to come here after it was discovered I have the right blood group and tissue match. "I didn’t need any advice on what to do and British Airways gave me a free ticket for the trip. I’m not a lifesaver. iust a bloke who thinks

; that life is priceless. Anybody with half a heart would have come.” He added that it was highly unlikely that he would meet Anthony before the operation. Mr loane was whisked away from the airport by the director of the blood transfusion unit at Westminster Hospital, Dr David James, to a secret London address to avoid publicity and catch up on some sleep. Before he left, Mr loane said: “I have been told what the operation involves and I’m hoping it will be a success." But before the operation the blood and tissue must undergo futher compatibility tests.

if these are successful, and doctors are very hopeful, the operation will take place within the next fortnight. The further tests are needed because the blood and tissue samples survive only 18 hours once taken, and could not be frozen and flown to London for tests. More than 80,000 people were tested in a world-wide donor hunt. Dr James, who found out about Mr loane after a chance conversation while on a trip to Christchurch, said: “We have no exact idea when the operation will take place. “But we have a team of specialists standing by ready to operate if the tests prove successful.” Anthony’s mother, Mrs Shirley Nolan, aged 33, will take his blood samples to Westminster Hospital where doctors will begin the analysis. At her village home at Chailock Lees in Kent she told N.Z.P.A.: “I will be thanking Mr loane next week, on my own and away from the publicity glare. “One photographer has already suggested I pose giving him a big kiss. But I shall just shake his hand. “I am just hoping like hell that it all comes off.”