The recent tournament and AGM brought the subject of Leukaemia Research to the agenda again. One of our members, Mo Chang, unfortunately passed away shortly after being diagnosed with leukaemia and we now have the annual Mo Chang commemorative tournament to help raise funds for Leukaemia Research. Whilst raising money for Leukaemia Research is helpful and extremely worthwhile, I think we could take it further.
Therefore, I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about the subject of leukaemia a bit more and to let you know how you can get involved. I regularly donate blood (see blood.co.uk for more information) and since about 2001 I’ve been on the Anthony Nolan register for bone marrow or stem cell donation. Registering was easy and they just needed a small blood test to be carried out. After that, if a match comes up I get contacted to have further tests to see if I am a suitable match and then discuss options.
Recently the NHS has launched the British Bone Marrow Registry which is another register of donors. However, if you are already on one, register, you don’t need to register for another as they are both searched when a donor is needed. If you give blood (and I urge you to consider becoming a blood donor as well!), you can now register on the bone marrow registry at your donor session.
If you are between 16 and 30 then you are able to register with Anthony Nolan to donate. With the NHS, you can register if you are between 18 and 49. I strongly urge you to register with one of the registers. The more donors who register, the more chance of a match being made and more lives being saved. If you have any more questions, check out the links above or ask feel free to ask me on Wednesday night.
– Ross
