Izaack Powell, otherwise known as ‘Big Rig’ by his family was born in Brisbane Australia in 2002 to an Australian mother and an English father of Jamaican parentage.

At the age of just 15 years old Izaack was offered a scholarship by the Brisbane Roar soccer club and in 2019 he represented Australia in Brazil for the Under 17 Youth World Cup. That same year whilst in his last year of high school he made his debut for Brisbane Roar being the youngest ever player to be signed. Life was good.

Around June 2021, feeling unwell, Izaack received the devastating news that he had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. His and his family’s world stopped. Following chemotherapy and other treatments that led him to being in remission, Izaack started back at university pursuing business studies. He had resumed playing soccer at his childhood club at a high level again when a routine check-up revealed that his cancer had returned. His only option was a stem cell transplant.  Izaack immediately resumed chemotherapy whilst his family set about finding a lifesaving donor for him, when a friend contacted Gift of Life Australia (GOLA) to see if we could assist.

Knowing that the best chance of a match was from someone of the same ethnic background, GOLA reached out to the Jamaican community in Australia, and to our Gift of Life Inc. colleagues in the USA who immediately commenced a swab drive in Florida – the state with the most people of Jamaican heritage – to try and find a match for Izaack.

Whilst a full match was not found in the required timeframe, Izaack’s doctors suggested a stem cell transplant from his sister who was a half match.

Thankfully the transplant was successful and Isaac has resumed studying and is back on the soccer field. “We were so surprised that Gift of Life Australia was able to reach out to their colleagues in the USA to find people of Jamaican heritage to join the global stem cell donor register. Whilst that was not the source of the match that saved Izaack we are very grateful for the support of Gift of Life and encourage every 18-35 year old to join the registry –  a quick
cheek swab could save a life”, said Suzy Powell, Izaack’s mother.

Murray Foltyn, was diagnosed in 2022 with a rare blood cancer. This 41-year-old Sydney man, happily married with two young children, urgently needed a life-saving stem cell transplant.

As there was no suitable DNA match on the global stem cell register, Murray’s family turned to Gift of Life Australia (GOLA) and the Strength to Give team at the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (now Stem Cell Donors Australia) (‘the registry’) to try and find a match to save Murray’s life. At this time DNA sampling in Australia took place by taking blood samples from potential donors, whilst overseas only a cheek swab was required. Gift of Life Australia was an active advocate for DNA collection by cheek swabs and had been very actively lobbying the federal government to support this method given it was less expensive, less daunting and far more scalable.

GOLA was given permission to conduct a swab drive in Sydney and Melbourne to try and find a match for Murray, a man of Jewish heritage. The Jewish community rallied and over 600 people joined the registry in Sydney and Melbourne and additional blood samples were collected in Perth and Sydney. This was the largest event in the history of the registry. At the same time Murray’s friends and family overseas mobilised their Jewish communities and in total around 2000 DNA samples – potential donors – were added to the global stem cell register.
A match was found with an American living in Russia. However the delay in finding a match and the process of extracting and transporting stem cells to Australia was prolonged and during that period of time Murray’s health deteriorated.

The result of the transplant was initially disappointing however Murray persevered and after a second transplant is now back at work and looking forward to watching his kids grow up.

“Our family is extremely grateful for all the support from Gift of Life Australia, the registry and the Jewish community”, Murray‘s wife Claudia commented. “I suspect the outcome for Murray would have been better were we able to find a match in Australia and avoided the delays in sourcing an overseas match. For that reason alone, we cannot overstate the importance of every eligible person in Australia aged 18-35 yrs joining the registry here to give fellow Australians the best chance of a life-saving match”.

Gift of Life Australia regularly holds donor drives with corporations, public organisations, sporting clubs and individuals marking special events to build the donor database of Stem Cell Donors Australia. We are grateful for these organisations and their support to save lives. Register to Become a Donor Today!