Oh, hi! It’s great to see you here. You must want to know more about supporting Anthony Nolan's lifesaving work. Well, now you've come to the right place.
There are so many ways to start your heroic lifesaving journey. Where will you start?
Register as a potential donor
Sure, writing essays, revising, and all that other school stuff is important… but y’know what’s more productive? Saving lives! Don’t worry, we won’t tell your teachers…
If you’re aged 16–30 and in good health, you could be a hero and save the life of someone with blood cancer by joining the Anthony Nolan stem cell register.
For someone with blood cancer, an amazing stranger donating their stem cells could be their best chance of survival.
But first they need a match. And that match could be you.
Here are the facts
- You can join online! You'll get a pack in the post for you to do a cheek swab and send back. We'll test your sample and add your information to the stem cell register.
- You'll stay on the register until you're the grand age of 61. If you ever come up as a match for someone with blood cancer, we'll be in touch.
- We'll organise the whole thing. We support you at every stage of your donation and arrange everything, from travel to accommodation. We've got it all covered.
There are two ways you might be asked to donate:
- 90% of people donate via their bloodstream in a straightforward process, called peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection.
Joe, who donated via PBSC, said 'I was hooked onto the machine for around 4/5 hours so it's pretty boring! Afterwards I felt pretty tired as you would expect, but felt really good that I had done something good for someone.'
- 10% have their stem cells collected via their bone marrow while under general anaesthetic.
After Donna's donation, she said 'Bone marrow donating done! I can honestly say it has been an amazing and surprisingly pain-free experience (I am a wimp!). Knowing I've given someone a second chance at life is such a fantastic feeling.'
Anthony Nolan is the charity that makes lifesaving connections between people with blood cancer and incredible strangers willing to donate their stem cells, but you can go one step further and become and blood and organ donor too!
Save lives at uni
Headed to uni? Our student groups, Marrow, would love to have you on board.
Marrow is our fantastic network of student groups in the UK who work in their universities and beyond to do one thing – save the lives of people with blood cancer.
Marrow has three important aims:
- To raise awareness of Anthony Nolan and blood cancer within universities around the UK.
- To give every student the opportunity to join our stem cell register.
- To raise funds to help support Anthony Nolan’s vital work.
You can find our more about their exciting campaigns, and check if there’s a group at the universities you’re looking at:
Raise lifesaving funds
Every donor recruited costs the charity another £40. By fundraising for Anthony Nolan, you can do something that will save the lives of people with blood cancer right now. That’s incredible, right?
Staying at home doesn’t mean your fundraising needs to go on hold. It can be a great way to stay in touch, stay active and make a difference.
Here are some ways to be a hero from home:
- Virtual Quiz - Set up a virtual quiz night via video chat. Ask for a donation to a JustGiving page to take part and offer a prize (or just bragging rights) to the winner
- Gaming Tournament - Take on your own gaming marathon and share your stream with others while asking for a small donation. Or, set up a gaming tournament online and ask people to donate to take part! Got a gaming expert in your family or friends at home? Get them involved!
- Fitness Challenge - set yourself a target and get sponsored. Can you do 100 burpees a day for 30 days? Can you get manage 10,000 steps every day? Whatever you do, make it a challenge and ask friends and family to sponsor you online.
- Facebook Birthday Fundraiser - Set up a birthday fundraiser on Facebook and ask family and friends to make a donation in support of Anthony Nolan
Got questions? We'd love to hear from you, just get in touch at community@anthonynolan.org