JK Rowling shows support for Vithiya’s stem cell donor search

Authors and other famous people have been using Twitter to spread the word


Harry Potter writer JK Rowling has expressed her support for Vithyia Alphons’ campaign to find a stem cell donor on social media. 

Final year Vithiya, who studies Optometry at Cardiff University, was diagnosed with aggressive form of leukaemia after visiting the doctors due to severe sickness. Doctors have told Vithiya that unless she finds a stem cell donor to help fight the disease, she could be dead within eight weeks. A widespread social media campaign to find a stem cell donor has attracted celebrities, such as JK Rowling, and author Jojo Moyes, to retweet posts in search for a match.

Vithyia has been told she has eight weeks to find a stem cell donor

Due to her South Asian heritage, Vithiya is urging people who are of a similar ethnicity to her to sign up to the blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, as this is her best chance in finding a match. The final year optometrist has already under gone oral chemotherapy, however it’s failure has lead to doctors requiring a stem cell transplant in the next two months to keep Vithiya alive.

On the Help Save V’s Life Facebook page, Vithiya wrote: “Hi everyone thank you all so much for your support it really means so much. We’ve been receiving a lot of messages and I promise to reply to you all soon. For anyone unsure how to register please take a look at the description on the pinned post or go to match4lara.com which is a fantastic source of information. Thanks again!!”