About the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register

Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with blood cancer by matching them to people willing to donate their stem cells for lifesaving transplants. A transplant is usually the last hope of life for someone with blood cancer. On average, 65 people a day are diagnosed with a blood cancer – that’s one person every 23 minutes. However, Anthony Nolan can currently only find matching donors for half the people who need them.

We urgently need more men aged between 18 and 30 to join the register. Men of this age are more likely to be chosen to donate, as transplant consultants prefer them as donors. It costs Anthony Nolan £100 to recruit each new donor, so the charity aims to concentrate its resources on the people who are most likely to save lives. 

To join the register, you must be aged between 18 and 40, weigh over 8 stone, be in general good health and be willing to donate to anyone, anywhere in the world.

At the recruitment event, you’ll be asked for some medical information and a small saliva sample. Before giving the sample, Anthony Nolan asks that you do not eat, drink, smoke or chew for 30 minutes beforehand.

Donating blood stem cells is simple – it’s much like giving blood. 80% of donations take place via PBSC – peripheral blood stem cell collection. Your blood is taken from a tiny tube in your arm, passes through a machine to be filtered and goes back into your body via a tiny tube in the other arm. The processes takes about 4 or 5 hours.

The other 20% of donations take place via an operation under general anaesthetic, during which the bone marrow is taken from your pelvis. There is a general misconception that this method is extremely painful, but donors usually report nothing more than some back ache.

But by donating, you could save a life.

Find out more at www.anthonynolan.org or by calling 0303 303 0303 and if you can’t make it on the day, you can register online.