Glasgow University Marrow Group, GUSRC, University of Glasgow and Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, in partnership with Anthony Nolan, are giving you the opportunity to help in the fight against blood cancer.

Every year thousands of children and adults with fatal bone marrow diseases, like leukaemia and aplastic anaemia, reach a stage where their only hope of survival is a bone marrow transplant from a donor who shares the same tissue type.

Although family members, mainly siblings, may offer the best match, unfortunately, 70% of patients do not have suitable sibling match and are therefore reliant on an unrelated donor to offer them the chance of life.

Glasgow Marrow will host a Donor Recruitment Clinic at Wolfson Medical Building (level 4) on Monday 29th October from 10am - 4pm. You have the opportunity to help cure blood cancer by joining the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow register and giving someone a chance at a life they may not have had without your help.

For just 10 minutes of your time and a small saliva sample, you could be the one match required that gives one of the 16,000 people worldwide, who need a blood stem cell transplant, the chance of life.

Although we are encouraging everyone between 16 and 30 to join the register, we are specifically appealing for young males aged between 16 and 30 to come along on the 29th of October to join the register. A very high percentage of matches come from 18 to 30 year old males and the chances of the match being a success increase greatly with donations from males within this age bracket. However, they currently only account for 12% of donors on the register.

No food or drink can be taken half an hour prior to giving your sample.

If you would like to join the Bone Marrow Register then please come along to Wolfson Medical Building, level 4, on the 29th October. Please also encourage your University colleagues and friends to come along and join the register.

The fact is we all potentially have the power to save a life, why not give it serious consideration, join the register and make a difference.

The links below will help give you a better understanding of the important work carried out by the Anthony Nolan, and exactly how much it would mean to the victims of these diseases for you to become a donor.

http://www.anthonynolan.org

First published: 19 October 2012

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