Supporting the Stem Cell Donor Register
8th August 2011
Alan Whitehead is encouraging Southampton residents to sign up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell donor register as part of a campaign started by a 15 year old with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Alice Pyne, 15, is losing her fight against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma because a matching stem cell donor was not found for her in time. Alice published on her blog a list of the things she would like to do before she dies and, at the top of her list, she wants to encourage more people to join the stem cell donor register- even though she is no longer at the stage where a transplant will help her.
Southampton’s Labour MPs John Denham and Alan Whitehead are now aiming to recruit at least ten men each between the ages to 18 and 30 to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register.
Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. Every day, they use their register to match donors willing to donate their blood stem cells to people who desperately need potentially lifesaving transplants.
However, there is a shortage of young male donors on the bone marrow register. Men aged 18-30 account for 80% of donations, but make up just 19% of the register. Presently, Anthony Nolan can only find a matching donor for half the people who come to them in desperate need of a lifesaving transplant so this summer they are aiming to recruit 10,000 more young men to the register.
Dr Whitehead said:
“Alice’s story is similar to that of many people facing potentially terminal conditions, both in Southampton and across the country. Today in the UK, there are 1600 people who are in need of potentially live-saving stem cells transplants. By joining the Anthony Nolan Register, young men from Southampton can offer patients the chance of life and a new hope to their families.”
Mr Denham said:
“This is a really important issue. The aim is to recruit 10,000 men nationwide under 31 years of age to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register – so it’s vital we promote this as much as we can. If every MP recruited just ten young men to the Anthony Nolan register, that would make up 6,500 new recruits towards the charity’s ten thousand target. These new donors could be saving lives by Christmas.”
Anthony Nolan has provided every MP with a unique code to give to constituents so the charity can track how many young men MPs have recruited.
If you live in Alan Whitehead’s constituency and would like to sign up to the register, go to mp.anthonynolan.org enter KBP6.
If you live in John Denham’s constituency and would like to sign up to the register, go to mp.anthonynolan.org and enter the code ZXH3.