The African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust is a United Kingdom based charity established in June 1996 by Beverly De-Gale and Orin Lewis, the parents of Daniel De Gale.
The charity as set up after Daniel De Gale relapsed with Leukaemia, and needed a bone marrow transplant. As bone marrow contains racially specific characteristics, a compatible donor could only be found within the black or mixed race population. On researching the UK bone marrow database, it was found that there were only 550 black or mixed race people on the UK register. The Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital resultantly informed the parents that there was just an approx. 1 in 250,000 chance of Daniel finding a compatible donor.
On 16th June 1999, Daniel received a transplant from an unrelated United States donor, Doreene Carney, at Great Ormond Street Hospital. However, due to complications leading to multiple organ failure, he died at the age of 21 on the 8th October 2008.
Set up after Daniel's death, ACLT has raised the numbers of potential Black/Mixed Race donors from 550 to approx. 27,000. The aim of the ACLT is to raise the required funds to start an independent ACLT Bone Marrow Register that will allow the charity to undertake world wide donor searches. The ultimate aim is to be able to fund the testing of the many potential bone marrow donors stepping forward.