Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards

The ANSAs Ceremony

The Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards (ANSAs) ceremony is our annual opportunity to say thank you to the incredible supporters that make our lifesaving work possible.

Congratulations to our incredible Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards winners for 2025! These incredible individuals, groups and organisations have been instrumental to the lifesaving work of Anthony Nolan. 

Congratulations also to all of those who have been nominated and high commended for their amazing support.

The ANSAs will take place on 10th September at the beautiful Ironmongers Hall, London.

Shirley Nolan Award

Winner – Laura Coleman-Day

Laura took on the incredible challenge of completing 12 marathons in 12 months in memory of her husband Xander, who sadly passed away following complications after a stem cell transplant. Her twelfth and final marathon, the London Marathon 2025, fell on what would have been their sixth wedding anniversary. To mark the occasion, she ran it in her wedding dress - an act of powerful symbolism that went viral and raised our profile nationally and internationally. Laura is a tireless champion for Anthony Nolan and a worthy winner of the Shirley Nolan Award.

Simon Dyson Volunteer of the Year

Winner – Sue Hidson 

Sue’s dedication to Anthony Nolan began with the tragic loss of her son Aidan, a medical student working abroad in Borneo as part of his medical degree. Aidan was a passionate supporter of Anthony Nolan during his time with Marrow, and Sue has continued his legacy by becoming a donor recruitment volunteer herself. Her dedication has directly led to over 400 young people joining the stem cell register between May 2024 and May 2025, each one a potential lifesaver. Sue is calm, compassionate, and a source of inspiration to everyone she supports at Anthony Nolan.

Highly commended – Newcastle Marrow 

Newcastle Marrow represents Anthony Nolan in Newcastle by planning and running campus events to recruit potential donors, raise vital funds, and raise awareness for Anthony Nolan. They do all this alongside studying for their degrees and often working part time. Between January 2024 and March 2025, Newcastle Marrow were our highest recruiting Marrow group, adding 1,301 new potential donors to the stem cell register – a 500% increase within two academic years. Current president Hiruni Fernando leads with enthusiasm and passion and has hugely grown the volunteer base of the group. Newcastle Marrow are a group of extremely capable advocates for Anthony Nolan. 

Highly commended – Kevin Dickinson 

Kevin donated his stem cells in 2009 and has since become a driving force for education and recruitment for Anthony Nolan in the North East. His belief in our mission and his desire to make a difference have been truly inspiring. His willingness to go beyond standard presentations, invest additional time in building meaningful connections, and continuously find ways to make Anthony Nolan's mission more tangible demonstrates his exceptional dedication. Through his comprehensive approach—combining education, recruitment, powerful storytelling, and volunteer development—Kevin has become an invaluable asset to Anthony Nolan's work in an area where our presence had previously been limited.

Recruiter of the Year

Winner - Race Against Blood Cancer 

Race Against Blood Cancer (RABC) has achieved exceptional impact and has demonstrated unwavering dedication to stem cell donor recruitment. As one of Anthony Nolan’s most committed partners, RABC has gone above and beyond in their mission to diversify and grow the stem cell register since 2017. Their journey began with local outreach and has since expanded to include education programmes in schools and colleges. Their commitment has reaped outstanding results with 643 new potential lifesavers recruited to the register this year alone. Race Against Blood Cancer has showcased the power of personal storytelling and community engagement by exemplifying the importance of dedication, passion and partnership. 

Highly Commended - South Gloucester & Stroud College  

Members of the college team reached out to us as part of Ellis Joseph’s patient appeal. They were determined to support their friend and former student, to raise awareness of Anthony Nolan’s work, and encourage more young people to join the stem cell register. Not only did they sign up a significant number of new potential donors through recruitment events with various university, community, and rugby groups within their community, but they also set up education presentations for their college students and hosted donor recruitment events that saw an unbelievable 475 students join the register over two days—breaking all records for school or college recruitment.

Philanthropic Supporter of the Year

Winner - Garfield Weston 

Garfield Weston has been an amazing supporter of Anthony Nolan, particularly in relation to the opening of our new Cell Collection Centre. When approached about the project, they were hugely responsive. The dedication, time and curiosity they showed in understanding the challenge we wanted to tackle was amazing. They spent time with the team, visited the site, and ultimately made a significant donation, which has allowed us to begin turning our vision of a life-changing collection centre into reality.

Patient Recognition Award

Winner - Funmi Dasaolu 

Without Funmi’s tenacity throughout the exa-cel gene therapy appraisal, we are certain we would have struggled to make such a convincing case for this new treatment to be approved for the sickle cell community. The appraisal resulting in an innovative, potentially curative treatment for sickle cell being approved has provided renewed hope to the entire community. ​Funmi persevered after the first negative decision made by NICE, to raise awareness and help change this decision, fighting the corner for the whole sickle cell community – taking an incredible amount of emotional strength and determination. 

​Highly commended - Peter Foord 

Peter has undergone two stem cell transplants since 2017, and continued to work for some time despite the challenges of post-transplant life. After a while he made the difficult decision to stop working and reached out to Anthony Nolan to see if there was any way he could help contribute. Over the past few years, Peter has generously volunteered his time and insight with Anthony Nolan, making a meaningful impact through his lived experience and unwavering dedication. He has contributed to a NICE trial, served on several influential panels, and played a key role in appointing our Head of Involvement in Patient Services. His insight has been instrumental in validating and enriching our findings during our quality of life studies, ensuring they truly reflect the lived experience of patients. 

Individual Fundraiser of the Year

Winner - Adam Sharkie 

Adam chose to support Anthony Nolan after his daughter Willow’s life was saved by a bone marrow transplant in 2019. He took on Ride London 2024 as a fundraising challenge, and he raised an incredible £45,450. Adam really mobilised his networks and contacts to spread awareness about the challenge he was taking on and the motivation behind it, gathering as much support and as many donations as possible. He shared his and his daughter’s story and personal experiences to help others facing similar situations, and leveraged both his personal and professional connections to achieve that amazing final fundraising total.

Group Fundraiser of the Year

Winner - Family and Friends of Isaac Baker 

Isaac Baker was just two years old when he passed away in 2013 after being diagnosed with cartilage hair hypoplasia (CHH) and having a bone marrow transplant. Isaac’s Mum, Sophie, created their MuchLoved Tribute page, Isaac’s Gift, in 2021, and to date, Isaac’s Gift has raised £106,696.09 for Anthony Nolan. Sophie has mobilised a whole host of friends, family, and community members to organise events and raise funds over the years, motivated by the incredibly difficult experience they had with Isaac passing away at such a young age. Twelve years later, Sophie and her family and friends are continuing to fundraise for Anthony Nolan and tell everyone how important it is to get signed up to the register as an incredible legacy for Isaac.

Game Changer of the Year

Winner - Sally Springett 

Sally Springett is a specialist nurse at Oxford University Hospitals who has made an extraordinary contribution to the PrEQoL and SEQoL studies. Sally has worked with our team as a local Principal Investigator and was instrumental in helping ensure the studies stayed on track. She has recruited over 73 patients to take part, is always responsive to monitoring changes, and is an advocate for promoting Anthony Nolan’s research with patients and health professionals. Sally’s dedication represents the very best of clinical research partnerships. Her impact has reached beyond the project team and has been felt by patients who have been supported and empowered to participate in research. 

Donor Recognition Award 

Winner - Thomas Rennie 

Having joined Anthony Nolan’s register at the tender age of 17, Thomas made his first of three donations to the same recipient at just 18 years old.  He has gone on to donate for research and, incredibly, is now in the work-up stage for another patient.  This is the only donor we know of who has had this particular range of experience. Throughout it all, Thomas has expressed only joy and willingness at being of help both to recipients and for research purposes. Thomas’ contribution has been unprecedented, and he is a great advocate for Anthony Nolan.

Advocate of the Year

Winner - Elliot Deady 

Elliot used his ballot entry in the 2024 TCS London Marathon to raise vital funds and awareness of Anthony Nolan, using his journalist contacts to raise the profile of the charity and share his story. Elliot had a stem cell transplant after being diagnosed with aplastic anaemia when he was 13 and 2024 marked 15 years since his initial diagnosis.  During his training and fundraising for the marathon, Elliot used his platform to promote Anthony Nolan’s messaging, including calls to join the stem cell register and to encourage donations. Elliot utilised all his networks to maximise Anthony Nolan’s brand and messaging across regional and national media—reaching a potential audience of millions—as well as agreeing to share his own physical and emotional transplant journey.

Corporate Supporter of the Year

Winner - Sunderland AFC Women 

Sunderland AFC Women chose to support us again last year, in memory of their Club photographer, Colin Lock. They decided to use the opportunity of their Tyne-Wear derby match against Newcastle to raise awareness and funds for Anthony Nolan by donating £1 from every ticket sale to us. Through the Club’s promotion, the match went on to break the record for most ticket sales for a Barclays Women's Championship fixture, and the Club donated over £9,000 to Anthony Nolan. The match also offered an incredible awareness opportunity, as well as a substantial donation and, of course, a wonderful legacy in Colin's name. 

Corporate Partnership of the Year

Winner – NEXT 

NEXT have selected Anthony Nolan as their Charity of the Year for 2023 and 2024, specifically through their employee network group Unity. The team has made a significant impact on the work of Anthony Nolan across fundraising, awareness, recruitment, and policy. In 2024, they awarded a £10,000 unrestricted grant to support our equity mission, and through the co-creation of the ‘Tiny but Mighty’ sleepsuit for World Cord Blood Day, they have helped highlighting the power of cord blood stem cells. NEXT has gone above and beyond by embedding support for Anthony Nolan across their business, from generous fundraising and innovative product collaborations to policy integration and staff engagement – all of which shows a deep, strategic commitment to saving lives and raising awareness in truly impactful ways.  

John Petchey Award

Winner - Mason Arrowsmith 

Anthony Nolan ran a patient appeal for Mason back in 2021. His family went above and beyond to support the appeal – eventually raising over £40,000 in his name. Three years on from his stem cell transplant, Mason took part in the 2024 mini-Great North Run to raise funds for Anthony Nolan and raised £587 in total! It has been amazing to see Mason’s resilience after overcoming everything he's been through, as well as his and his family's continued support of Anthony Nolan throughout everything.