Rowan Tong-Law, a young Brisbane rugby player, is in a desperate search for a life-saving stem cell donor after being diagnosed with leukaemia just two years ago. Diagnosed straight out of high school, Rowan now watches football from the sidelines after chemotherapy failed to treat his condition.
A Needle in a Haystack
His father, Robert Law, explained the difficulty of finding a match: "He will need a stem cell transplant which we process to go through. It's a needle in the haystack because a lot of it is based upon heritage."
"My wife is Chinese descent, I'm of an English-Scottish descent so it's got to be somewhat of a mixed," Law added.
Teammates Rally Behind Rowan
The search for a donor has been ongoing, with his teammates at the University of Queensland rallying behind him. They swapped their scrums for swabs in a donor drive.
"Rowan's one of our own so it's really good to support him. No real excuse not to. I think everyone here wants to help each other," said Xavier Granbower.
Community Support Extends Beyond the Field
The search has extended beyond the rugby field. Rowan's mother, Bronwyn, has been recruiting potential donors at Suncorp Stadium ahead of the Dolphins and Broncos clash.
"The Dolphins have been so supportive. They've actually sent a text to every one of their members letting them know that we're here and happy to register them," Bronwyn Tong said.
The response from the community has been encouraging, with supporters coming forward to register as potential donors. "I was posting a lot about it so, yeah, we thought we'd come down and give it a go," one person said. "It's important to donate because people do need these treatments and things like that," another person added.
Urgent Need for Donors
The need is urgent. Currently, 248 people in Queensland are searching for a donor, with the nationwide demand sitting at 1300.
Medical teams are now pushing for a national strategy to better match donors with those in desperate need. "We are seeing more and more people that need stem cell transplants and that is increasing and so we really need to also increase the number of people on the registry," said Josephine O'Brien, founder of Lifesaving List.
