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(January 10, 2003) The most famous German Bassemir can work again in his profession. Soccer coach Udo Bassemir (43) stands again in services of FC Bayern München (Bavaria Munich) - as a so-called "sighting head" he looks for undiscovered young soccer talents in Germany.

Thus the life of Udo Bassemir starts to return to normal after one and a half years. With the former coach of the Bavarian amateurs a particularly dangerous form of leukaemia had been diagnosed in 2001. In a dramatic public action a suitable marrow donator was searched and found in the end (see below).

Also during the hard days of his illness Bayern München had stood to Bassemir and had supported him materially furtheron. Wolfgang Dremmler, Bavaria chief scout and ex-national player, today: „I’m glad he is back again and can contribute his experience.“

(October 29, 2001) Udo Bassemir, former coach of the Bayern Munich amateur soccer team and most famous German bearer of the family name, has good hopes again. After an unparalleled country-wide relief campaign for the leukaemia patient, a marrow donor with the same tissue characteristics was finally found. 42-year-old Udo Bassemir is ill with a particularly aggressive form of blood cancer. His wife Christine reports, her husband bears the so-called Philadelphia chromosome that works like an engine with the formation of cancer cells.

On Monday came the relieving message. A suitable donor was found outside of Europe. Christine Bassemir: "My husband and I had a sigh of relief. This donor fits definitely. All characteristics are correct."

The chances to find someone with a suitable marrow in the world-wide donor file had been extremely small. The search for the donor had become a dramatic relief campaign. Soccer stars of FC Bayern Munich and 1. FC Kaiserslautern had donated blood, in order to be taken up to the marrow donor file. Bayern captain Stefan Effenberg expressed the players' feelings: "I believe in that case soccer is rather unimportant. There are many things which are more important."

At the federal league home match of the 1. FC Kaiserslautern (the capital of the Palatinate) the spectators contributed to the relief operation for the native palatinate Udo Bassemir. More than 500 soccer fans donated blood before and after the match. In addition, money was collected for the classification of the blood tests, which costs about $ 50 per analysis. The Bayern Munich soccer club transferred no less than $ 50,000 to the donation account; Club manager Uli Hoeness personally donated $ 25,000.

Also on this website www.bassemir.de a suitable donor was searched for, since the treating physicians had come to the conviction that the largest probability for a concurrence would be with humans of the same descent.

Even though for Udo Bassemir a donor is found - nevertheless many patients suffering from the same disease are desperately waiting for a donation. Concerning this matter, closer medical information can be achieved by the Aktion Knochenmarkspende Bayern. Moreover, it can still be contributed to the special account: "FC Bayern hilft Leukämiepatienten (FC Bavaria helps leukaemia patients)", Kto.Nr. 7778 with the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft AG (BLZ: 700 205 00).