A Co Armagh family are to host a family fun day this weekend aimed at helping to find their eight-year-old son a bone marrow donor.
Bobby Browne was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in May of last year and since then has undergone multiple cancer treatments as his family hope to find the young boy a cure.
However, none of these have proven to be successful and the family have been told that Bobby's only hope is to find a bone marrow donor and are now urgently looking for one to save the brave eight-year-old.
Read more: Family's desperate appeal for people to join bone marrow register to save life of eight-year-old son
This Sunday, June 25, the family and a local motorcycle club have organised a Family Swab/Fun Day and motorcycle ride from Camlough to Kells in aid of Bobby where attendees will have the opportunity to be swabbed for the bone marrow donor register while also enjoying a day of entertainment.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Bobby's mum Louise said they are doing all that they can to find him a donor and are encouraging as many people as possible to join the register.
She said: "This weekend we will be holding a special family Fun Day and Motorcycle Run at Shane O'Neill's GAC where attendees will have the opportunity to get swabbed and join the bone marrow register.
"We are just trying to do all that we can to help Bobby and the others who are desperately in need of a bone marrow transplant, which can be very difficult to secure with only 3% of the population signed up to the register.
"We are very thankful to everyone who has helped organised the event and provided us with facilities, from the motorcycle clubs who are doing their run on Sunday, to Shane O'Neills for allowing us the use of their grounds. But most importantly we are grateful to anyone who joins the register as we need as many people as possible to join.
"The past year has been very tough on Bobby as he has been going through his treatment, and while we still have a big journey ahead of us, if we are able to secure a donor for him it would give him a real chance to overcome this disease."
Louise also said that she felt that bone marrow donation laws in Northern Ireland should be reformed, similar to the recently introduced Daithi's Law.
She continued: "There is a very small number of the population who are on the bone marrow register as it is still something that people need to opt into as opposed to other countries like Germany where people need to opt out.
"It would be great if we could have the same system here in Northern Ireland as there would be so many more potential donors here if there were 10 or 20 times the number of people on the register."
If you would like more information about the Swab/Fun Day for Bobby on Sunday, please visit the Find Bobby a Match Facebook Page
If you are interested in helping Bobby and his family, you can join the bone marrow register via the links HERE and HERE.
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