ELO drummer Bev Bevan is helping a school remember a former pupil who inspired thousands to join the stem cell donor register, days before she passed away.
Dorridge Music School will stage a memorial concert for ‘beautiful butterfly’ Riya Dandekar who died in December from incurable anaplastic lymphoma.A stem cell match had been found for the 21-year-old in the USA, but sadly she was too unwell to undergo a transplant.
Brave student Riya, from Solihull, had appealed from her hospice bed for donors to sign up, inspiring thousands of people to join the Anthony Nolan Register.
Now school patron Bev Bevan and Angelo Starr - brother of Motown legend Edwin Starr - will lead more than 300 musicians taking part in the one-off concert at Symphony Hall.
Riya’s mother Ursula said: “This year’s tribute is a beautiful way of remembering her whilst continuing her legacy to raise awareness of how quick, easy and simple it is to register as a blood stem cell donor with Delete Blood Cancer UK.”
As well as featuring rock and classical music, the concert will also include up and coming opera singer Faith Turner, the Town Hall Gospel Choir and a Rat Pack tribute act.
Riya herself was a talented musician, and was part of the charity concert last year. She sang the Circle of Life from the Lion King, just a month after her diagnosis. Just days before she passed away she told the Mail: “My biggest wish is that every adult, who is medically fit and able, registers as a potential bone marrow donor.
“Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer and for many, a stem cell or bone marrow transplant is their only hope.
“Every week a new campaign, a new appeal, is made. All these appeals are for the same thing – to encourage more people to come forward and join the register.”
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