Editorial
Social media has brought about a fundamental change to how people communicate with organisations and with each other—resulting in both positive and negative outcomes. Perhaps one of the most heartening uses is when it is able to galvanise action for a good cause, or to save a life. This power was demonstrated particularly well earlier this year, when Lucy Hill, from Bury, UK, was involved in a road traffic collision in Thailand and subsequently required A– blood for transfusion. As this blood type is rare in Thai people, with fewer than 1% of the population having negative blood types, her travelling companion made a public appeal for people with that blood type in the area to come forward and donate. This appeal was shared tens of thousands of times in a matter of hours, resulting in potential donors queuing outside the hospital to help. Although there has not been much follow-up news, it was indicated that Lucy was able to receive the transfusion she needed. A more difficult search is still underway for Lara Casalotti, from London, UK, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December and is searching for a bone marrow donor. As an individual with a mixed ethnic background of Italian and Thai heritage, with no suitable relative donor, she and her family have launched an appeal not only to find an HLA match for Lara, but to also raise awareness and encourage other individuals of mixed heritage to join the bone marrow donation list, gaining worldwide attention. Although it is too soon to tell whether Lara’s search will result in a match for her, the increased number of potential donors will surely be of benefit to someone. It is not particularly surprising to find that such emotional appeals can be successful: empathy and a want to help others is part of human nature, and when there is a particular person and sense of urgency attached, people feel as if they can make a tangible difference. This is no doubt a good thing. The challenge then becomes how to maintain that momentum in the mundaneness of the everyday, where the need is still present, but has not garnered as much attention. How to encourage individuals to continue to donate blood, or to sign up to a bone marrow register, when there is not a particular cause they can see and respond to, is a vexing problem. Although all systems that require a large pool of resources aspire to maintain them by www.thelancet.com/haematology Vol 3 February 2016
regular donations, this arrangement can be difficult to achieve in practice, and public appeals often are able to spur individuals into action. However, there can be some uncomfortable issues to be confronted when it comes to this sort of public appeal for biological resources. Both Lucy Hill and Lara Casalotti are young women at the beginning of their lives. An uncomfortable question to ponder is, would people react with the same generosity to appeals from other demographics? Equally, if such an amenable public face is what is needed to nudge people in the direction of help, should that be questioned? While Lucy and Lara’s situations are very different, a common theme is the rarity of the biological that is needed. Although it is clear that gaining worldwide media attention by having an appeal go viral can no doubt help an individual cause, there is still scope to consider different approaches as well. It could be argued that rather than simple initiatives to increase the numbers of individuals willing to donate, and retain those who have donated once, more can be done to target specific groups in which there is particular need, or gap in the database. Medical professionals and bodies that regulate such biological resources could help to identify these gaps through research, and reach out to key opinion and community leaders to encourage minorities to assist. Lara’s search for a bone marrow donor will benefit many other people of mixed ethnicity if the desired result of encouraging more people of complex backgrounds to become potential bone marrow donors occurs. Donation drives around the UK have been organised and information on how to become a donor in many different countries is available through her website. Doctors and other medical professionals can certainly assist by engaging on the same social media platforms to raise awareness and dispel myths. What is needed now is a way to harness the power of social media campaigns to support and enhance regular domestic campaigning, so that in the future there will be ample supplies of the biological resources that are needed. The involvement of medical professionals can humanise efforts begun by governments and societies, and can inject confidence into grass-roots efforts. The world is now more connected than ever, it would be a shame to not maximise the potential good that can result. ■ The Lancet Haematology
Antonia Reeve/Science Photo Library
Crowdsourcing biologicals
For more on Lara’s campaign see http://www.match4lara.com/
e53
Social media has brought about a fundamental change to how people communicate with organisations and with each other—resulting in both positive and negative outcomes. Perhaps one of the most heartening uses is when it is able to galvanise action for a good cause, or to save a life. This power was demonstrated particularly well earlier this year, when Lucy Hill, from Bury, UK, was involved in a road traffic collision in Thailand and subsequently required A– blood for transfusion. As this blood type is rare in Thai people, with fewer than 1% of the population having negative blood types, her travelling companion made a public appeal for people with that blood type in the area to come forward and donate. This appeal was shared tens of thousands of times in a matter of hours, resulting in potential donors queuing outside the hospital to help. Although there has not been much follow-up news, it was indicated that Lucy was able to receive the transfusion she needed. A more difficult search is still underway for Lara Casalotti, from London, UK, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December and is searching for a bone marrow donor. As an individual with a mixed ethnic background of Italian and Thai heritage, with no suitable relative donor, she and her family have launched an appeal not only to find an HLA match for Lara, but to also raise awareness and encourage other individuals of mixed heritage to join the bone marrow donation list, gaining worldwide attention. Although it is too soon to tell whether Lara’s search will result in a match for her, the increased number of potential donors will surely be of benefit to someone. It is not particularly surprising to find that such emotional appeals can be successful: empathy and a want to help others is part of human nature, and when there is a particular person and sense of urgency attached, people feel as if they can make a tangible difference. This is no doubt a good thing. The challenge then becomes how to maintain that momentum in the mundaneness of the everyday, where the need is still present, but has not garnered as much attention. How to encourage individuals to continue to donate blood, or to sign up to a bone marrow register, when there is not a particular cause they can see and respond to, is a vexing problem. Although all systems that require a large pool of resources aspire to maintain them by www.thelancet.com/haematology Vol 3 February 2016
regular donations, this arrangement can be difficult to achieve in practice, and public appeals often are able to spur individuals into action. However, there can be some uncomfortable issues to be confronted when it comes to this sort of public appeal for biological resources. Both Lucy Hill and Lara Casalotti are young women at the beginning of their lives. An uncomfortable question to ponder is, would people react with the same generosity to appeals from other demographics? Equally, if such an amenable public face is what is needed to nudge people in the direction of help, should that be questioned? While Lucy and Lara’s situations are very different, a common theme is the rarity of the biological that is needed. Although it is clear that gaining worldwide media attention by having an appeal go viral can no doubt help an individual cause, there is still scope to consider different approaches as well. It could be argued that rather than simple initiatives to increase the numbers of individuals willing to donate, and retain those who have donated once, more can be done to target specific groups in which there is particular need, or gap in the database. Medical professionals and bodies that regulate such biological resources could help to identify these gaps through research, and reach out to key opinion and community leaders to encourage minorities to assist. Lara’s search for a bone marrow donor will benefit many other people of mixed ethnicity if the desired result of encouraging more people of complex backgrounds to become potential bone marrow donors occurs. Donation drives around the UK have been organised and information on how to become a donor in many different countries is available through her website. Doctors and other medical professionals can certainly assist by engaging on the same social media platforms to raise awareness and dispel myths. What is needed now is a way to harness the power of social media campaigns to support and enhance regular domestic campaigning, so that in the future there will be ample supplies of the biological resources that are needed. The involvement of medical professionals can humanise efforts begun by governments and societies, and can inject confidence into grass-roots efforts. The world is now more connected than ever, it would be a shame to not maximise the potential good that can result. ■ The Lancet Haematology
Antonia Reeve/Science Photo Library
Crowdsourcing biologicals
For more on Lara’s campaign see http://www.match4lara.com/
e53
