The Nigerian woman with leukaemia, Mrs. Mary Brown, who lived in the UK and was at the centre of a campaign to allow her sister to enter the country to donate stem cells to her is dead.
Read also: Nigerian Woman suffering from leukemia begs UK to give sister visa
Mrs. Brown’s story was first in the news after UK embassy in Nigeria denied her elder sister, Martha Williams visa.
The deceased, who was married to a white man with kid, was diagnosed with leukaemia in July 2015. She was told her only chance of survival was an urgent stem-cell transplant, and luckily, Martha was a “10 out of 10” tissue match.
The refusal of the UK embassy to issue her donor sister visa on the grounds that she was a teacher, and may not return back to Nigeria attracted widespread condemnation
However, the embassy later backed down after more than 60,000 signed an online petition.
The transplant was deemed a success in March. But the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) said Mrs Brown died last Friday following a relapse.
ACLT co-founder, Beverley De-Gale, said Mrs. Brown relapsed in April adding that Martha not getting visa on time may have contributed to her death.
“You never know with any cancer what way it’s going to go but any delay is never going to help the situation.
“I sadly have to say that could be a possibility but I am not a medical expert,” De-Gale was quoted as saying.
