Residents rally for Ronnie

Buy photos » Baby Ronnie urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. (s)

MORE than 150 residents rallied together to help give a baby the chance to fight for his life.

At an event held last Thursday (October 18), 151 people registered as bone marrow donors in the hope they could be a match for 14-month-old Ronnie Manders who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia in July.

As The Standard reported last week, his mother Whitney made an urgent plea to the Redditch community asking people to attend the event at Rockland's Social Club and sign up as potential donors for Ronnie, after doctors warned a transplant was his only hope of survival.

She said: "We were overwhelmed by all the support from strangers. It’s amazing what people will do for someone they don’t even know.

"We just hope people will continue to join the register and urge their friends and family to do the same."

The 25-year-old added: "We also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped out on the day as we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them – and to Anthony Nolan too.”

Redditch MP Karen Lumley, who also attended the event, said the community response was 'nothing short of amazing'.

"The event was a show of support and all people have come together to help Ronnie. Whitney is an extremely inspirational woman, who is fighting incredibly hard to do all she can to support her son."

A spokeswoman for Anthony Nolan, said they were delighted with the response.

But added: "We can still only find a match for around half the people who are searching for a donor, so we need as many people as possible to join the register and give blood cancer patients the hope of a future.”

Visit www.athonynolan.org to sign up online or www.rallyforronnie.com for more information.

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