Family’s heartfelt plea to Jewish News readers as donor search turns critical
Relatives of a grandmother from Kenton are calling on the community to help save her life after being diagnosed with leukaemia
The family of a grandmother from Kenton is calling on the Jewish community to help identify an urgent stem cell donor to save her life.
Sipy Howard, 65, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia on her birthday in December, and began intense treatment that same day. AML is the same form of aggressive blood cancer suffered by fellow Kenton gran Sharon Berger, whose family created the phenomenally successful Spit4Mum campaign back in 2012-13.
A member of Neve Shalom Synagogue on Preston Road, Sipy was a beauty therapist and hairdresser before becoming a housewife when her children Sammy, Emma and Jolene were born. She now has two granddaughters – Sofia, who is four years old, and two-year old Sienna.
This week Sammy launched a heart-wrenching appeal, saying: “Mum now urgently needs a bone marrow transplant and we are really looking for the Jewish community, specifically the Sephardi community, to potentially save her life.”
She described Sipy as “a very bubbly woman, always laughing and generally a bit nuts, an amazing wife, an adoring mother and grandma, who dedicates her life to our dad Eli, working so hard to make sure we have everything we need”.
Sammy described Sipy as “a key member of her community, known for her open-house policy and caring for everyone she meets, whether it’s hosting dinner for our extended family and friends every Friday, or trying to make people smile by sending motivational texts”.
In an effort to encourage Jewish community members to register as donors (if they have not done so already) the family has organised a string of events, saying: “All we need is a swab from your mouth… Her best chance is to find a match is from her ethnic background.”
Sipy, whose family is working with donor charity DKMS, is the same age as Sharon Berger, whose family’s tireless efforts encouraged thousands of British Jews to register with the Anthony Nolan Trust in recent years. The campaign bore fruit, and in May 2013 an apparently successful donor match for Sharon was found, leading to a bone marrow transplant. However last year blood tests revealed that the cancer had returned.
This week, Sipy’s family urged community members to support the Saving Sipy campaign, with a registration event in Kenton on Sunday 19 February at 2pm at the David Ishag Synagogue on Preston Road, and an earlier event in Maida Vale this Sunday.
Full details of these events and others at synagogues across London in the coming days are available on the campaign’s Facebook page.
Saving SipyCan you save someone’s life? #savingsipy
Saving Sipy DKMS UK Chai Cancer Care Anthony Nolan The S&P Sephardi Community Sephardic Jews Spit4Mum #Spit4Mum Rabbi Joseph Dweck Chief Rabbi Mirvis Mitzvah Day Bloodwise The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness
Posted by The Jewish News on Friday, 10 February 2017
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
