Team Margot Foundation is a charity set up by former colleague and Director of Fleurets, Yaser Martini.
In October 2013, Yaser’s daughter Margot was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of blood cancer. To give her the best chance of survival, Margot required a stem cell (also known as a bone marrow) transplant.
Friends and family came together as Team Margot, appealing for every eligible individual to register as a potential donor, in an attempt to find Margot’s perfect match. Sadly, in October 2014, Margot passed away, however Team Margot has continued to tell Margot’s story and help others in need of stem cell transplants, blood and organs.
Whilst living in hospital with Margot, Yaser & his wife Vicki saw many families struggling to make ends meet, often for some of the most basic needs, all the while caring for children with cancer. Cancer treatment, inability to work and other factors leave a third of cancer survivors in debt, whilst 3% are bankrupted by the illness.
Accordingly, an important part of Team Margot’s mission is to provide a range of support to families caring for child cancer patients, including grants of £1,000 per family.
To date the charity has made over 250 of these grants which have become known as ‘emergency grants’, given the ease of application and the fact that they are usually arrive within 24 hours following receipt of bank details.
Below are snippets of the feedback previously received:
“Family is extremely grateful. Mum is in hospital with Armaan. Dad looks after siblings at home. His furlough payments have stopped recently and so this grant has helped the family greatly.”
“This money is going to be so amazing for us, we are moving house, and this is so needed, thank you so much for your help and support.”
“I have no words, I am crying, your support has meant so much to us, I can’t thank you enough.”
Thank you.
Team Margot
Together, saving lives
Team Margot’s mission
To help save and improve lives by educating, inspiring and motivating people, especially from ethnically diverse communities, to register as blood, organ, stem cell and bone marrow donors and to provide a range of support to families caring for child cancer patients.
Team Margot also provides secretariat support to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethnicity Transplantation and Transfusion.