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Marrowmatch via Facebook
how to save a life

Over 100 people in one day offered to give this Irish army officer their bone marrow

Paul Giblin has been battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma since April 2012.

MORE THAN 100 people showed up to a clinic in Galway yesterday, offering to donate bone marrow to an Irish army officer if they are a match.

We told you about Paul Giblin earlier this month, when he made an appeal to the Irish public to help save his life by increasing the number of donors on the Global Registry. The 32-year-old was diagnosed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in April 2012. He has already undergone radiotherapy and chemotherapy but these treatments can not cure him, they can only buy him time.

The athlete and army officer has been trying for a long time now to find a bone marrow match and had to go ahead with a mismatch transplant at the start of this year. His friends launched a touching campaign to find him the perfect match and save his life, encouraging people to join the register through social media, using the #MarrowMatch tag.

The campaign has taken off and yesterday a drive in Galway brought over 100 people to a clinic to have a sample taken to see if they are a match.

On the Marrowmatch Facebook, friends of Giblin said the turnout had been “unbelievable”. They said they were working on more clinics for anyone who could not attend yesterday.

Read: Army officer Paul Giblin is getting married tomorrow. He needs a bone marrow match by January>

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