Hollyoaks actress Jessica Fox and former EastEnders actress Kellie Shirley are fronting a campaign by The Anthony Nolan Trust to get as many people as possible joining the charity’s bone marrow register at a special session to be held in central London at Tiger Tiger, Piccadilly, on Saturday 31 May between 11:00am and 4:00pm.
Jessica and Kellie are joined by fellow actors David Harewood and Dougray Scott, as well as TV presenter Dan Snow, in making the call for men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 to attend the potentially life-saving donor recruitment day at the fashionable Tiger Tiger bar and restaurant.
“The Anthony Nolan Trust needs to recruit many more bone marrow donors to its register. There are currently 16,000 people worldwide in need of a life saving bone marrow transplant. Their chances of finding a suitable donor who matches their genetic make-up is slim. But the more people that join the register then the greater the opportunity of finding a match.” explains Jessica
Actress, Kellie Shirley, tells us why she is calling for more people to join the Anthony Nolan Register.
“I really hope Londoners will rise to the challenge and attend the event in Central London. Every year thousands of people in the UK are diagnosed with leukaemia or a related cancer. You could just be the donor match that one of them is desperately looking for, so please help by joining the register on the 31st May.”
TV presenter Dan Snow has recently joined the register and found the process simple and painless:
“I joined the register last month, motivated by the realisation that I could do something that could save someone’s life and yet it required so little effort on my part. It took all of 30 minutes and all I had to do was to give a small blood sample from my arm. That was it, I was on the register as a potential donor.” Says Dan.
The best chance for finding a match for a patient is from a donor from the same ethnic background, but minority ethnic groups are not well represented on the register. Alex Frazier of The Anthony Nolan Trust hopes the day at Tiger Tiger will correct this:
“The chance of finding a donor for a patient from an ethnic minority group can be as low as 20 -30 %. There is a shortage of donors from all ethnic groups, for example, the number of Asian donors on the register is under 4% - with that number even lower for other ethnic groups.We desperately need to correct this and would like to see young people from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds registering with us on 31 May.” says Alex
The blood sample taken at the registration day is tested to establish the tissue type and the results stored on the charity’s database, which is of course confidential. As a new member of the register the donor receives a registration card and written confirmation of being a potential life saver. A donor may be found to be a match for a patient almost immediately or may wait many years before being asked to donate – and in some cases may never donate at all if there is no match.
