Eighteen months ago, Brian Daley aka DJ Swing, was one of the most successful R&B DJs of his generation. He beat Fatboy Slim to win the MOBO award for best DJ and he was playing clubs across the world. But in June 2004 DJ Swing was told he had developed multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the bone marrow. His only chance of a cure is a bone marrow transplant. With no suitable donors in his family, DJ Swing has to hope that there is a perfect match somewhere out there. But as an African Caribbean the chances of finding this perfect donor can be as low as one in a 100,000. If Swing were white the odds would be around one in five. Saving DJ Swing follows a unique campaign to find this match.

Swing's boyhood friends and original DJ crew, the Boogie Bunch have reformed to find him a donor themselves, putting on club nights-cum-donor clinics to mobilise the black community and so save their friend's life. In trying to save DJ Swing, they may also save Donna, who is also suffering from multiple myeloma and who is launching her own search for a donor in the churches of Luton. But will the black community listen to their pleas?

If you'd like to know how you could help people like Swing and Donna by registering to become a bone marrow donor, contact these organisations.

For more information about myeloma call the International Myeloma Foundation's Infoline on 0800 980 3332 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).

Update on DJ Swing
In November 2005, DJ Swing had a bone marrow transplant with a 90% matching donor. Although the transplant procedure went well and initially he showed signs of recovery, sadly DJ Swing passed away in March 2006, aged 39. For more information about the work being done in Swings's memory to raise awareness of bone marrow donation, see Fight Myeloma.

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