Marrow

Who we are  

Marrow is made up of some amazing students. There are over 50 groups, with hundreds of volunteers in universities across the country, who are all working towards one thing - saving the lives of people with blood cancer.

Marrow's mission

Marrow has three important aims:

• To raise awareness of Anthony Nolan and blood cancer within universities around the UK. This means spreading the word, holding events and letting students know about our lifesaving work.
• To give every student the opportunity to join our stem cell register. Marrow run recruitment drives across campus, from halls to the university gym, they make sure students are within spitting distance of becoming a lifesaver.
• To raise funds to help support Anthony Nolan’s vital work. Marrow hold fantastic fundraising events, including bake sales, bucket shakes, balls and more. 

To achieve these aims, local Marrow groups work with an elected National Committee, whose role it is to support new groups and represent the interests of Marrow as a whole.

What we’ve already achieved

• We’ve signed up over 100,000 people to the Anthony Nolan register, and we do more every year.
• 1 in 100 people who we’ve signed up to the Anthony Nolan register go on to donate – much higher than average.
• 28% of all Anthony Nolan stem cell donations are the result of Marrow’s work.
• We’ve raised a ton of money – Marrow have raised over £160,000 in a year to help fund Anthony Nolan’s work.

Get involved

Marrow can make even more happen with your help, here are a few ways you can get involved.

• Volunteer – join your local Marrow group and get involved in their lifesaving work. If there isn’t a group in your university, then set one up! We can give you all the support and advice to help you.
• Promote – let everyone in your university know about Marrow, contact your friends and followers, and share our Facebook and Twitter pages far and wide.
• Support – give Marrow a helping hand to reach new students, set up in new places on campus and beyond, and help them to save even more lives of people with blood cancer.

Marrow's beginnings

Marrow began in 1998 when James Kustow, a student at The University of Nottingham, was having dinner with some friends when he received a call from his mother. A childhood friend of his, Karen, had been diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant to survive.

Banding together with his friends, James organised a hugely successful recruitment event on campus to try and get more people to join the Anthony Nolan register.

James and his fellow volunteers decided to put together a team to run regular events and raise awareness for years to come. They called it Marrow.

Sadly, Karen relapsed after her transplant and passed away four months later – but her legacy lives on in the Marrow groups which were set up to help her and many more people like her.

Marrow has gone on to support dozens of patient appeals across the country, as they work hard to save the lives of people with blood cancer.

Contact us

We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch at marrow@anthonynolan.org, or drop us a message on Facebook or Twitter.