Isaack 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. Isaack is a talented young man both academically and on the sports field. At the age of just 15 years old he was offered a scholarship by the Brisbane Roar soccer club. In 2019 he was selected to represent 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. He also met his current girlfriend at that time. Around June 2021 he started to feel unwell and receive the devastating news that he had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. His and family’s world stopped. The family being very private people kept this quiet whilst Isaack receive chemotherapy and other treatments that led him to be in remission.
Isaack started back at university pursuing business studies and had resumed playing soccer at his childhood club at a high level again when a routine check-up revealed unbelievably that his cancer had returned and that his only option was a stem cell transplant. Isaack immediately resumed chemotherapy whilst his family and friends set about finding a lifesaving donor for him. A friend had heard about Gift of Life Australia and contacted us to see whether we could assist.
Knowing that the best chance of a match was from someone of the same ethnic background, we 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 Isaack. Unfortunately, a full match was not found in time and Izaack’s doctors suggested that his best chance was a stem cell transplant from his sister who was a half match.
The good news is that the transplant was successful and Isaac has resumed studying and is back on the soccer field.
“We were so surprised the 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 Isaack we are very grateful for the support of Gift of Life and encourage every 18-35 year old to join the registry – quick cheek swab could save a life”, said Suzy Powell, Isaack’s mother.