Charity: African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT)

ACLT is a 40+ time award-winning charity committed to providing hope to patients living with blood cancer and illnesses where a matched donor (stem cell, blood or organ) is required to save a life. Our work is driven by a belief that no one should die waiting for a donor to become available. Through our work, we improve the odds of finding matches by registering potential donors en masse from all ethnicities, with a focus on donors from the African and Caribbean communities. This is due to an extreme shortage of potential African and Caribbean donors. We also provide support and advice to patients and their families throughout treatment, from diagnosis to recovery and sadly (in some cases), while supporting the patient and family during ‘end of life’: where treatments have not been successful. Our underlying ethos is to educate communities across the UK by raising awareness about stem cell, blood and organ donation. ACLT was founded in 1996 by Beverley De-Gale, OBE, and Orin Lewis, OBE, 3 years after receiving the devastating news that their 6-year-old son Daniel De-Gale needed a stem cell transplant in order to win his 6-year battle against acute leukaemia.