Michelle spoke with Natasha who was appealing for people to come forward for the Stem Cell Register.
APPEAL
Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with blood cancer and blood disorders
Founded in 1974 as the world’s first stem cell register, we’re motivated by a mother’s determination to save her son, Anthony.
Over 45 years later, three people a day are now given a second chance of life, thanks to generous funders and an ever-growing stem cell register. Our charity is a lifesaving legacy.
For someone with blood cancer or a blood disorder, an amazing stranger donating their stem cells could be their best chance of survival.
If you sign up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register and one day come up as a genetic match, you could be that amazing stranger. Without you, there is no cure.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
Fill in the online questionnaire. Once your application is approved, we’ll send your mouth swab pack in the post for you to complete and post back ASAP. We can only add you to the register once we’ve got your swabs back in our lab ready to find out your tissue type.
The key things to remember are:
- You’ll stay on our register until you turn 61, but we will only ask you to donate your stem cells if you come up as a match for someone who needs you.
- There are two ways you could be asked to donate, and you need to be comfortable with both as it’s based on what’s best for the patient:
- 90% of people donate via their bloodstream – you’ll receive a course of injections for a few days before, and then go into hospital for the day where stem cells are collected from your bloodstream over 4-5 hours and filtered out using a special machine.
- 10% of people donate through their bone marrow – the cells are collected from your hip bone while you’re under a general anaesthetic so you won’t feel a thing – you’ll stay in hospital for two nights.
YOU CAN ALSO REGISTER
DKMS is an international charity dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders – always with the purpose of providing as many patients as possible with a second chance at life.
