'There is no match for me': Adelaide mother's desperate plea for bone marrow donor
A mother battling a rare form of Leukaemia has turned to Facebook for help to find a bone marrow donor after millions of people proved incompatible with her.
Tania Murphy, 44, from Middleton, in Adelaide, has a rare form of Leukaemia and is fighting the battle of her life.
Ms Murphy said the chances of her finding a donor are extremely low because of her mixed ethnicity - her father is Croatian and her mother is from the British Isles.
"Out of the millions of people that are on the bone marrow registry in the world, there is no match for me," Ms Murphy said.
There is a 1 in 1500 chance of a match for a donor and those odds get worse for patients with minority backgrounds.
Ms Murphy said her brother and sister aren't a match and her life now lies in the hands of a stranger.
The Murphy family created a Facebook page, called Find Tan a donor, to find a donor for her four weeks ago and it has since gone viral.
The mum has spent the past six months away from her husband Chris and their children Taylor, 7, and Callan, 4, while having chemotherapy treatments at Adelaide's Ashford Hospital.
"I love being a mum, but when you are experiencing something like this you miss every little bit," Ms Murphy told Sunrise.
"From the moment they wake up and jump on your bed, to the last kisses at night.
"Every bit of it is really precious."
Ms Murphy said it takes up to six weeks to test a possible match and obtain the results and is urging people to act fast.
She said she needs people to go to the Red Cross, take a blood test and say they would like to go on the bone marrow registry.
You can call 131 495 to make a booking with the Red Cross or register online at www.donateblood.com.au
