To mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month this September, Bob attended a reception in Westminster on 12 September to encourage potential stem cell donors in Beckenham onto the Anthony Nolan register.
The Antony Nolan Campaign shines a spotlight on the vital work being done at a local level to ensure every patient in need of a stem cell transplant can find a lifesaving donor.
In total, more than 700,000 people in the UK are on the Anthony Nolan register, any of whom could be a match for someone with blood cancer and asked to donate their stem cells to give a patient a second chance of life.
Bob encourages more people from Beckenham, particularly men aged 16-30 and people from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, to register as stem cell donors and make sure that a match is available for everyone in need of a transplant. While anyone on the register could be a match for someone with blood cancer, men aged 16-30 are most likely to be asked to donate. They provide more than 50% of donations yet make up just 16% of the register. There is also a shortage of donors from non-white and mixed-race backgrounds.
Being a donor is now absolutely painless as the stem cells are separated in a recycling blood transfusion machine. Bob did not realise that this was the case until he attended the session and met young people who had donated stem cells already. This is a tremendous cause to support as stem cells are needed so urgently.