Good news for leukaemia patients: The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust celebrates best year
Last updated 3/10/2010 5:32:03 PM
The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust celebrates best year
The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust says it's enjoyed its best year ever, offering hundreds of people with leukaemia a lifeline.
In 2009, the trust helped 800 people receive a lifesaving transplant – encouraging news indeed for the one person every 21 minutes who's diagnosed with leukaemia.
For some, their only hope of survival is a bone marrow transplant. The Anthony Nolan Trust finds donors and matches them to patients. Speaking of its record year, the Trust said: "This is our highest number ever. But this year we want it to be even more."
Patients like Matt have benefited from the work of the Trust – he had a bone marrow transplant in 2009. "When I was diagnosed with leukaemia the world collapsed from under my feet," he explains. "Without a transplant, I only had a one in 10 chance of surviving.Thanks to my bone marrow donor, I'll be able to graduate from uni and get on with my life."
Finding a donor is crucial – just ask Jaqui, whose 18 month-old son Max desperately needs a bone marrow transplant."You never want your child to even have a nasty cold," Jacqui said. "It's so difficult to see him go through this. I just keep my fingers crossed that we will find our donor."
Journalist Adrian Sudbury was just 27 when he died of leukaemia in 2008. Adrian spent the last few months of his life campaigning for better education and information for young people on the importance of bone marrow donation. "I'd encourage everyone to donate bone marrow," he said at the time. "It's not much different to giving blood. If more people had the facts, more people would be willing to sign up and more people's lives would be saved."
From a saliva sample , the Trust can now get all the information it needs for a potential donor to join its register.This groundbreaking change means trips to the GP to give a blood sample before registering are a thing of the past.
For further information visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk
Read also >> Inspirational Oscar Parry survives six years of leukaemia and three bone marrow transplants