The community has rallied around a boy needing a bone marrow transplant.
Henrique is a 16-year-old boy who lives near Portimão with his parents and his 11-year-old sister. He dreams of being a chef, but sadly, his life has been in and out of hospitals for the last year. Suffering from Leukemia, his body is weak and he can’t take any more chemotherapy. He urgently needs to find a compatible bone marrow donor to relieve his suffering.
His family do what they can. His mother takes care of him at home and during hospital stays, his dad works and his sister frequently has to stay with her grandparents while her brother is in hospital. They do not have financial resources, but all they want to do is save Henrique’s life, so they approached the Câmara, who agreed to provide help for the bone marrow collection campaign.
Henrique holding hands with the owner of Stopest that sponsored the cost of the plane advert.
In order for the appeal to reach as many people as possible, and with the beaches full of people a friend of the family, had the idea of a plane advertising the efforts to find a donor. Hearing of the campaign Tomorrow led a Facebook campaign to publicise the effort and paid for online promotion.
It was an emotional moment on 5 August when Henrique stood on the beach and was surprised to see the plane with the message “Salve O Henrique” with the date and time of the registration for bone marrow compatibility. He was hand in hand with the owner of the company Stopest who sponsored the cost of the plane message. The aviation company also reduced the cost of the plane to support the cause.
The day was full of generosity, as Henrique, his mother and his sister were given lunch at the Pizzeria La Piazza, in Alvor. Dunas Beach Restaurant belonging to the Penina Golf & Resort, from where they watched the passage of the plane message, also kindly gave an area of their terrace where Henrique watched the plane’s message. Henrique had to stand under sun umbrellas, as he cannot have sun exposure due to the strength of the chemotherapy treatments to which he has been subjected.
The family would like to thank the 316 people who went to the Portimão Arena to register for marrow donation, the medical staff and everyone involved in the campaign. They are now waiting for the compatibility result and hope to have found some compatible donors.
Even if no compatible donor has been found in this marrow donor raising campaign, these people stay in the database and may be called upon to donate marrow to another child or adult who needs healing through the bone marrow transplantation process.
You can still register with the bank of bone marrow donors. It is very easy and you only have to be between 18 and 45 years old and be healthy. You do not necessarily have to correspond to the same type of blood. You need to go to the Hospital do Barlavento of Portimão, blood section on the 1st floor, or to the Association of Blood Donors of the Algarve, on Av. 25 de Abril in Portimão.
If you are reading this article or have family members who can save a life, do not wait to meet someone at risk. Go to a blood bank today and sign up to donate your bone marrow and save a life.
If you can help, please contact ADSBA –
+351 965 017 465
