Two Warwick University students are campaigning to recruit more potential donors to the bone marrow donor register, after they donated their bone marrow in an attempt to save the lives of two strangers.
Student volunteering group Warwick Marrow works with us to recruit potential lifesavers to our donor register. Shiv Soni-Sadar, a second year Engineering student, joined the register at a National Hindu Society sports competition in March 2013. In September, he was called to say that he was a match for someone in need of a bone marrow transplant and he donated in October.
'It's the best thing I've ever done'
Shiv donated by Peripheral Blood Stem Cell collection (PBSC), which is used in 90% of donations and involves a procedure similar to giving blood.
Shiv, 19, says, “Apart from feeling achy, I had symptoms of flu for a couple of days. What kept me going was knowing that my recipient was going through something so much worse and so far, they hadn’t given up. The donation lasted for six hours in total but friends from London called in to see me throughout the day and I read an entire book. It didn’t hurt at all.”
“People in the last couple of weeks have been throwing around the word ‘hero’ for what I’ve done, for helping a stranger, but I don’t feel like one. I think the heroes are the patients who are still fighting. Me? I’m just their sidekick, and I sincerely hope that more and more people get the chance to be a side-kick , because it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
'It's really easy to potentially save someone's life'
Sarah Hutchinson, 25, joined the bone marrow donor register eight years ago when she was giving blood.
Sarah says, “I never thought I would come up as a match. In April 2013, I had a letter to say I was a preliminary match for someone and had to send off some more blood. They told me in June that I was the first choice match and asked would I go to Bristol for some health checks.”
Sarah donated by bone marrow harvest, a procedure under general anaesthetic where the stem cells are taken directly from the pelvis.
Sarah explains, “I felt tired for around a week and had backache but nothing worse than pulling a muscle. In 2 weeks I was back to normal and now there isn’t even a scar. I feel like I might have saved someone’s life, or at least given them a bit more time.”
“It’s really easy to potentially save someone’s life. One day it could be me, or my mum or my boyfriend, and I would want someone to do it for me so I think I should do it for someone else.”
Charlotte Connolly, Marrow Recruitment Manager at Anthony Nolan, says, “Shiv and Sarah have potentially saved the lives of two strangers with blood cancer and hopefully will inspire others to sign up as donors. We know that young people are most likely to be chosen to donate, so Warwick Marrow’s work makes such a big difference. They really do help us to save lives and that is an incredible thing.”
How you can help
If you're aged between 16–30 and in general good health, you can join our register by filling out our simple online form.
To find out more about Marrow, visit this section of our site. For every 100 people that Marrow has recruited, one has gone on to donate their bone marrow and potentially save someone's life.