My name is Sacha, and I’m raising money for ACLT - African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, a leading blood cancer/disorder charity dedicated to raising awareness of the severe shortage of donors of Black heritage in the United Kingdom on the stem cell (bone marrow), blood, and organ donor registers.

Last year, at the age of 23, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Naturally, it was a huge shock and it has been an extremely difficult year fighting to overcome it, but I made it out the other side! As part of my treatment, not only did I undergo multiple rounds of chemotherapy but I also had to have a Bone Marrow Transplant and needed to find an unrelated donor. As someone with a mixed ethnic background, part of it being of Caribbean heritage, my first and biggest worry was about whether I would find a suitable donor. I was very lucky, and thankfully I was able to find a match and undergo the transplant within a year of my diagnosis but not everyone is that lucky. There is a huge shortage of donors of African Caribbean descent, especially within the UK, and ACLT work to raise awareness and recruit donors to help to save the lives of people like me. I am determined to make my battle with cancer mean something, and raising money for an extremely important and necessary charity is one way I am trying to do so.