Anthony Nolan concludes Man on A Mission campaign Hot

Anthony Nolan concludes Man on A Mission campaign,
young men still needed to save lives.

Young men in the West Midlands are being urged to find out more about joining Anthony Nolan’s register of blood stem cell donors. The charity held a series of events as part of a week-long campaign in the city earlier this month, but still need 668 people to join the donor register to help save more lives.

Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with blood cancer by matching them to willing donors for lifesaving transplants. The charity’s ‘Man on a Mission’ campaign, fronted by comedian, chef and writer, Hardeep Singh Kohli, took place in Birmingham from 29 October to 4 November. Hardeep visited temples, community events, a Diwali celebration and a local school to help add 332 people from the area to the register. The campaign had aimed for a target of 1000, to enable it to find more matching donors for those who need a lifesaving transplant.

Hardeep said, ““From speaking to people while I was in the Birmingham, I found that no one said no to this vital cause. So I’m asking the good people of the city to keep spreading the word, particularly to young men, so that we can get many more onto the campaign website, to sign up to the register and see if they could help save a life.”

Jenner Large, Anthony Nolan’s donor recruitment manager for the region, said, “We picked Birmingham as there are a large number of young men within the city, as well a large population of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Men aged 18-30 are the group most likely to be asked to donate, so we need to get more of them on to the register to help save more lives.”

To find out more about the campaign through video content of what happened throughout the week or to join the register, visit www.anthonynolan.org/manonamissionblog


Notes to editors
The charity
• Please note that since July 2010, Anthony Nolan has dropped the word ‘Trust’ from its name.
• Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. Every day, we use our register to match remarkable donors willing to donate their blood stem cells, or bone marrow, to people they have never met who desperately need lifesaving transplants.
• 80% of donations take place via PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell collection). This is an outpatient appointment and is similar to donating blood.
• Most donors talk about how wonderful it is to have saved someone’s life.

Young men
• Men aged 18-30 are the most likely to be chosen as a match, but they make up just 12% of the register. It costs £100 to register each new donor, so men of this group are particularly encouraged to join.
• Young men are more likely to be asked to donate because men are generally bigger so will provide a higher yield of stem cells. Younger donors are less likely to have any health conditions that might prevent them from donating.
• Young men are urged to sign up at www.anthonynolan.org/manonamission

The need for donors
• On average, 70 people a day in the UK are diagnosed with a blood cancer – that’s one person every 23 minutes.
• There are nearly 1,600 people in the UK in need of a bone marrow transplant. This is usually their last chance of survival.
• 70% of patients will not find a matching donor from within their families.
• We provide two potentially lifesaving transplants every day, but for every patient we can help, there is another who sadly we can’t because no match can be found.
• To join the register, you must be aged between 18 and 40, weigh more than 8 stone (51kg) and be in general good health. For more information on the donating process, or to apply to join the register, visit www.anthonynolan.org or call 0303 303 0303.