A Nigerian woman’s hope of travelling to the UK in order to make a bone marrow transplant to her sister has attracted more than 20,000 petitions from sympathisers, demanding that she be allowed entry into the United Kingdom. Her UK based sister has Leukaemia
According to BBC reports, May Brown, 23, from Weymouth in Dorset, said she had been told by her consultant that her sister Martha was a “10 out of 10” tissue match.
The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) said Martha had been refused a visa because her income was too low.
The British Home Office said immigration rules were applied to all visa applications.
Donor’s petition over visa gathers momentum
One of the petitioners, Karl Blick, from Smethwick, in the West Midlands, said he had signed the petition “because human lives are more important than borders and petty rules”.
“I’m ashamed of my country, ” said Bridget Chapman, from London, adding: “This is cruel and inhuman. Fix it now!”
Mrs Brown, a patient at King’s College Hospital in London, has been told her only chance of survival is an urgent stem cell transplant.
Beverley De-Gale, co-founder of ACLT, said Mrs Brown started chemotherapy on Friday in the hope the surgery would go ahead.
“The hospital has no choice but to commence with chemo so the transplant can take place in three weeks,” she said.
“We have no idea whether Martha will be here by then, but we are hoping common sense prevails.
“Martha will need to go through a medical assessment before the donation itself can take place.”
Medical tests identified Martha as a perfect match, the ACLT said, but she was refused a visa because her teacher’s salary of £222 per month was too low.
The charity, which has set up the petition, said mother-of-one Mrs Brown had offered to cover all of her sister’s costs.
The Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases.
