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Speaker 1: Jamesy and Amanda gam Nation.

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Speaker 2: Only ten percent of Australian blood donors are on the

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Speaker 2: stem cell Registry, and our next guest, Josephine O'Brien, is

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Speaker 2: here to tell us how important it is to get

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Speaker 2: on that registry. She's the wife of Liam O'Brien who's

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Speaker 2: currently fighting for his life against leukemia and blood cancer.

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Speaker 2: Currently there's no stem cell match for Liam on the

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Speaker 2: global registry and he needs one soon to get a transfusion. Josephine, Hello,

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Speaker 2: good morning.

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Speaker 1: How are you both good? Right?

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Speaker 2: This puts you in a very desperate situation. Is it

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Speaker 2: unusual that he doesn't have a global match anywhere?

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Speaker 1: Yes, it is quite alarming to think that there isn't

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Speaker 1: a perfect match on the global register. And I think

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Speaker 1: our biggest concern in Australia we have such a lack

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Speaker 1: of awareness. A lot of people don't realize how simple

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Speaker 1: it is.

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Speaker 3: So when you give blood, to give this stem cell

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Speaker 3: stuff that comes out with your blood as well, So

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Speaker 3: it's as simple as ticking a box.

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Speaker 1: That's right. So it's very simply three steps. One is

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Speaker 1: your book to go and give blood via lifeblood dot

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Speaker 1: com dot Au or you call thirteen fourteen ninety five.

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Speaker 1: And then step two is you select or mention life

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Speaker 1: saving lists when you're booking. And number three is you

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Speaker 1: ask to be added to the stem cell register at

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Speaker 1: your appointment. So if you're already there and you're giving

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Speaker 1: blood and you simply add yourself to the stem cell register,

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Speaker 1: it's taking one extra vial of blood at the time.

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Speaker 1: It is perhaps an extra five minutes to already your

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Speaker 1: time that you've given to go and give the blood.

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Speaker 3: And it's not like the big you know, when you

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Speaker 3: give blood. I'm always amazed at how much blood they

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Speaker 3: take out of you. But it's not another one of

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Speaker 3: those big ones, is it.

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Speaker 1: No, it's just a very small, little vial that they

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Speaker 1: take a little bit extra.

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Speaker 2: How extraordinary that something as small as that might save

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Speaker 2: your husband's life. Tell us a bit about Liam.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so about six months ago, just after his fortyth birthday,

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Speaker 1: we got the shocking us is that he was diagnosed

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Speaker 1: with leukemia. And it has been a tough six months.

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Speaker 1: It's had a lot of extended hospital stays. I think

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Speaker 1: we worked out in the last sort of twelve weeks

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Speaker 1: he's been in hospital ten out of those and we've

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Speaker 1: got a four year old and a three year old,

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Speaker 1: So it's been really tricky juggling between the hospital and

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Speaker 1: home life, and you know they're too young to be

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Speaker 1: aware of exactly what's happening, but you know they miss

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Speaker 1: him and they know that that's in hospital and he's

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Speaker 1: not well. So it's I think that's the hardest part,

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Speaker 1: is the reality of what we're actually facing if we

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Speaker 1: don't get this stemsel match.

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Speaker 2: I'm surprised at how simple it is to give to themselves.

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Speaker 2: I doesn't know where. It just came out in your blood.

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Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. It's a very simple procedure to get on

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Speaker 1: the register and then even if you become a donor,

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Speaker 1: if you are the match, it's a very simple, non

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Speaker 1: invasive be just similar to giving blood that takes a

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Speaker 1: few hours and you know is disproportionately. The benefits of

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Speaker 1: it is just incredible and as I said, could say,

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Speaker 1: the life like lions, all the thousands of people in

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Speaker 1: the same position as him.

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Speaker 3: Wow, it's just remarkable. Well, good on you, Josephine, thank

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Speaker 3: you for joining us. If you are already connected to

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Speaker 3: the Red Cross, there is a all you have to

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Speaker 3: do is jump on board donate stem cells at your

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Speaker 3: blood donation appointments. It's as simple as opting into the

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Speaker 3: stem cell Donor Registry next time you give blood, so

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Speaker 3: you're already there, you're already doing it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And if you're nothing really extra and if you're

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Speaker 2: already registered, now it's a great time to do that.

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Speaker 2: People are always needing blood, and obviously now we hear

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Speaker 2: about the stem cells as well. Josephine, thank you and

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Speaker 2: good luck to all of you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much, really appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Josephine,