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In just five short years, Ruben lived a big life - One that touched the hearts of so many. He approached each day with courage, curiosity, humour, and incredible selflessness.
Forever 5, forever in our hearts.
Who we are
Roll up for Ruben is born from love, loss, and the determination to make a difference. Inspired by the life and legacy of Ruben, our mission is to bring hope, support and access to life saving treatments for families facing rare diseases.
Through Ruben’s journey, we saw the life changing power of blood products and stem cell donation. We also witnessed the gaps that exist in advocacy, awareness, and care, especially for rare diseases like DADA2, which often sit in the shadows of more widely known conditions.
We believe every child, every family, and every patient deserves the chance of a cure, the gift of more time, and the compassion of trauma-informed care that honours their humanity and story.
Vision
A community where every potential donor is inspired to act, every rare disease family is heard, and every health professional is equipped to walk alongside families with kindness and understanding.
Stay tuned, more to come.
Blood Donation
1 in 3 Australians will need a blood product in their lifetime.
Over the past 2 years, Ruben relied on countless lifesaving blood products- whole blood, platelets, and plasma. These donations are critical not only for children like Ruben, but also for so many others.
Donating blood products is simple and quick- an hour of your time gives another person and their family hope, and the gift of more time together.
Your impact is anything but small: a single donation can save up to 3 lives, and every 18 seconds, someone in Australia needs one.
We would love for you to get on board and join us
Lifeblood team, Roll Up For Ruben
Let’s make Ruben‘s legacy lifesaving.
Ready to donate and get involved?
In Australia approximately 1,200 patients of all ages, and many more worldwide will search for a stem cell donor (also known as a bone marrow donor) every year.
You could be the match someone is waiting for. If you’re 18-35, join the registry and stand by to save a life.
Ruben’s only treatment option was a stem cell transplant.
Despite the best efforts, there was no suitable stem cell match within Australia for Ruben. This is tragically common, with fewer than 1% of eligible Australians registered as stem cell donors. This leaves most patients reliant on international matches.
For many patients diagnosed with rare diseases and certain cancers, the stem cell donor registry is their only hope.
We ask all 18 - 35 year olds to consider joining the registry. A simple cheek swab or a blood sample could be the match that changes a life.
Ready to be someone’s hero?
