Running a marathon is a personal challenge I have wanted to take on for a few years and being able to do it in aid of Anothy Nolan Charity is a dream come true. 

I hope that by sharing my training journey and my fundraising events, that I will inspire other young people to join the stem cell register.

5 years ago I signed up to be a Stem Cell Donor with Anthony Nolan, an awesome charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. 💚

Little did I know that in summer 2022 I would get the call saying I had been found as a match for a patient. They asked if I still wanted to donate and to say yes was a no brainer.

A few hours of my life to hopefully give a whole life time to someone else.

So there my journey with Anthony Nolan really began, blood tests, trips to the London for medicals and finally the big day. (Or in my case 2 days as they needed more cells!)

I donated my stem cells via peripheral blood stem cell donation (PSCB), this meant I had several days of hormone injections to stimulate my bone marrow to produce more stem cells, before heading to London for donation. 

Anthony Nolan were and still are so supportive at every step, the hospital staff dealing with the donation are so caring and are so grateful for what donors do. This is why your donations are so important, I want to help Anthony Nolan continue to do their amazing work and give other donors equally amazing experiences of being a Life Saver! 

It was such an eye opening experience for me, getting to positively impact someone’s life and giving them a second chance with my own body and cells, it was a whole new concept. As a medical student I’m training to help people with my knowledge and kindness, donating my stem cells felt like I was making a difference on a deeper level and that is something really special.

In the pictures you can see me holding my “bags of life”, my stem cells and plasma 🧬

I wanted to stay involved with Anthony Nolan, so I found the Marrow society at university, who are volunteers for the charity. 

If you can’t afford to donate we need more young people on the stem cell register! It is free to sign up and it only takes a few minutes, you may never be called as a match but just imagine if you could give someone hope and a second chance in life. 

https://www.anthonynolan.org/help-save-a-life/join-stem-cell-register

A bit about Anthony Nolan charity: 

Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. We do this by matching incredible individuals willing to donate their stem cells to people who desperately need a lifesaving transplant. We also carry out cutting edge scientific research, fund spec