This week, the Irish Post sat down with Queen's Park Rangers and Ireland defender Jimmy Dunne and talked to him about his attempts to help a close family friend suffering from a rare form of cancer of the white blood cells.
Daniel Greer, a talented musician from Newry, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) on June 1. Daniel, who is 14, began chemotherapy just five days later, and after 25 doses of three drugs given over ten days, his family was told Daniel would need a bone marrow transplant.
Acute myeloid leukaemia is a form of cancer that progresses quickly and aggressively and requires immediate treatment.
Around 3,100 people are diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK. The risk of developing AML increases with age and is most common in people over 75.
💪 We need your help — QPR FC (@QPR) August 17, 2022
Ahead of Saturday's clash with Rotherham United we are working with the family of @jimmydunne70 to assist 14-year-old 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 – and we need your support 🙏 #QPR | @DoItForDaniel1
This week, Jimmy Dunne amplified on the situation for The Irish Post, spelling out how people can try and help Daniel in his battle. "Daniel has a rare form of blood cancer, and the thing about this is that chemotherapy wouldn't be as beneficial to him as it would be for most cases," said Dunne.
"What we are after, in an ideal scenario, is to find someone for Daniel who is a bone marrow match, so that he can have stem cell treatment.
"One thing we can do is raise awareness. Daniel's saviour is out there—and that’s true for other people as well.
"The problem is, how do you track those people down?
Dunne said, “I have stressed a few times that only 2 percent of the population of the UK are registered to DKMS, a blood cancer charity that supports people like Daniel and helps people find stem cell donors."
Last week, QPR set up a swab centre outside their ground, Loftus Road, to find a bone marrow transplant match for Daniel Greer.
Fans of both Rotherham and QPR were urged to come forward to help with the cause.
Dunne claimed that the turnout was really positive on the day. “I don't know the exact figures, but from what I hear, the turnout was really positive. Also, a good few Rotherham supporters came forward. That was really lovely to see because that's football as a community. It's looking past the result of the match," Dunne said.
"I’m very lucky to be involved with a club like QPR, where they are very helpful with a thing like this. The media team is brilliant, and the club, in general, is helpful in understanding. They are a family club, and more recently, we have had other clubs reach out to us to hear about it and offer support. So, this is what we are trying to achieve.
"If we could use football as a collective and get DKMS to send out these swab test kits to as many clubs as possible and to any club that will participate, because that's the only way I know how,"
🙌 We need your help — QPR FC (@QPR) August 20, 2022
Ahead of today's clash with Rotherham United we are working with the family of @jimmydunne70 to assist 14-year-old 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 – and we need your support 🙏 #QPR | @DoItForDaniel1
The Irish Post asked Dunne if anyone in the Ireland camp or football had been contacted to help. He said that it’s something that’s in the offing. "That's something that I am going to work on now—reaching out to friends of mine at other clubs.
“I’m going to put a plan together and sit down with the media team at the club (QPR) and see what the best way is to do this. I want to see it structured and organised so that everyone is on the same wavelength.
"In an ideal scenario, what I would like to do is send these swab kits because it is really simple. It's just a swab in the inside of your mouth, takes five minutes, and you can fill out an online form to be sent out to your house.
"But if I could get these test kits sent out to football clubs and have them make videos or do something with the kit, recognising the situation that Daniel's in, I think that will be the next step."
According to Dunne, the best thing people can do to help Daniel is to go onto DKMS social media, fill out the online form, and get a kit sent out to their houses.
"Get that percentage of people registered with DKMS up because the likelihood of saving lives becomes so much higher. That's statistically the best way people can help at home.
“Talking about and raising awareness is great, but filling out the form is even more helpful," added Dunne.
Visit https://www.dkms.org.uk/register-now to find out more.
Good morning all! The more people that register to an online form with @DKMS_uk the more likely we are to save a life. Daniel Greer is 14 years old and needs our help. Please come and see us before our Rotherham game to do a swap test and help find Daniel a stem cell donor! 💙 https://t.co/FTuNozSFWW — James Dunne (@jimmydunne70) August 18, 2022
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