Story
I signed up for the Anthony Nolan register following a social media campaign to boost the number of male donors under 30. Having not thought about this for a few years I received a phone call saying I was a match for someone and would I still be willing to donate my bone marrow which of course I was. Following some further tests to confirm the match I found out that the recipient was a very poorly 3 year old boy. The transplant was arranged for April 2019 with everything perfectly co-ordinated by Anthony Nolan I went down to the London Clinic for a couple of days and my bone marrow was extracted and sent off to a nearby hospital to be given to the recipient.
2 years on from the transplant I was given the option to exchange contact details which I was pleased to do and early this year I finally managed to meet the recipient of my bone marrow who was a now 6 year old boy called Henry who despite challenges along the way was now doing well. Meeting Henry and his Mum (Zoe), Dad (Craig) and little brother Tom really emphasised to me what an amazing charity Anthony Nolan and the life saving work they do. Without them I would never have thought about donating bone marrow, would never have been matched with Henry and who knows what would the outcome would have been.
Firstly please sign up to the Anthony Nolan register https://www.anthonynolan.org/help-save-a-life/join-stem-cell-register or if your too old then try DKMS https://www.dkms.org.uk/register-now
And secondly please donate anything you can to support their research and treatment and support for people in need of a stem cell transplant.
Thank You
Tom