Everyone talks about the power of social media, but this is one campaign which I have witnessed first hand how not only can it reach 1000’s of people but also save lives.

About 3 months ago I was contacted by a friend who’s niece has been suffering with a very rare form of leukemia. Her name is Margot and she is only 3 years old.

Her leukemia is so rare that the consultant haematologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital told Margot’s family that he has only seen three such cases in the last ten years, yet Margot could survive if a suitable stem cell donor could be found.
There are currently 23 million bone marrow registered donors worldwide, yet no one on the register was compatible with Margot so the task of finding someone suitable was not going to easy.

My friend has asked us to print some posters to advertise their plight and request for people to take a simple swab test to check if they were compatible with Margot in the hope that a perfect match could be found and save her life.
Margot’s family had created a simple but very touching video http://youtu.be/2-Y71G4JIR0 was released along with printed leaflets to help push the request. Then family and friends were recruited to spread the word using Facebook and Twitter.
The Facebook campaign http://www.facebook.com/teammargotmartini was started on the day before Christmas eve last December 2014, and it now has over 15,000 ‘likes’ and has more almost 4,000 people talking about it. Through Facebook, and twitter the quest from ‘Team Margot’ with its heartfelt plight reached a whole list of celebrities including Gary Barlow, John Bishop, Boris Becker, David Tennant, Gabby Roslin and Trevor McDonald.

Richard Branson took a personal interest in the campaign, not only writing an article on his blog http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/start-the-year-by-saving-a-life but played the video on the in-flight movie on all Virgin America flights earlier this month. This kind of exposure drew the attention of the national television and newspapers and took it to a worldwide audience including America, Singapore and Australia.

Margots parents only started their Internet campaign back in October 2014, with very slim chances of finding a donor they have finally succeeded!

On April 10th, Margot finally returned home having had a successful life-saving marrow transplant.!!

Their campaign attracted more than 50,000 potential donors who took the simple swob test, this included a person from Germany who was the perfect match.

All of the names added to the ‘Delete Blood Cancer’ database through the Team Margot campaign will remain in the hope that they may help others suffering with this horrible disease, there are currently 37,000 people worldwide with the disease and this includes 16,000 in the UK.

‘Team Margot’ are continuing to raise awareness and through social media in order reach out to potential donors to help others. You can do the same by registering for free at www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk