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Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan hosted a cross-party Parliamentary event on Wednesday 3rd July to celebrate the 205,000 people who joined the UK stem cell register last year and mark the 10th year of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum. The event was attended by several MPs and Minister for Mental Health, Inequalities and Suicide Prevention, Jackie Doyle Price.

(l-r) Simon, Jonny and Josh Parker

Young Geordies have the opportunity to sign up as stem cell donors with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan this week to support an appeal for a 21-year-old economics student who is receiving treatment for blood cancer.

In August 2018 Jonny Parker was given the news he had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a rare type of blood cancer. The keen runner had been struggling to improve on his 5k times.

Jonny says: ‘We thought it was a shoulder injury. I had a lump which didn’t disappear after my shoulder got better.

Anthony Nolan’s Regional Register Development Manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Amy Bartlett, has made the following statement in response to the news of Eimear Gooderham’s death:

"We are deeply saddened to hear news of Eimear’s death. Our thoughts go out to her husband Phillip, her parents Seán and Sinead, her siblings, family and friends at this difficult time.

A mum of three with leukaemia has been ‘completely taken aback’ by the support she has received from people in Northern Ireland this week. The charity Anthony Nolan has seen 1,732 people in the province sign up to its register online, in the last ten days, in support of her appeal for a stem cell donor. This compares to the 318 people who joined the register in Northern Ireland in the entire month of May.

#HarrisonKicksLeukaemia assembles to urges people to join the Anthony Nolan and NHS Stem Cell Registry

Fourteen-year-old Harrison Walch from Aston is a keen footballer, who plays right back for Aston Swallownest Blues under 15s. Like other teenagers he likes playing Xbox online with his friends supporting Sheffield United – particularly his favourite player Billy Sharp – and walking his French Bulldog Leo.

This week Marie Stark, mother of six year old Ava Stark who received a lifesaving stem cell transplant from a stranger in 2016, made contact with the person who gave Ava a second chance of life.

At the age of just three, Ava was at the centre of a nationwide appeal to find a matching stem cell donor after she was diagnosed with inherited bone marrow failure in 2016. She was treated at Edinburgh hospital where she received various blood transfusions and rounds of treatment. The doctors then came to the conclusion that a stem-cell transplant was her best chance for survival.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved a new drug that will improve the recovery of over half of stem cell transplant patients, after a lengthy consultation with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

The family of a one-year-old with leukaemia are calling for more people to sign up as potential stem cell donors, with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, after being told that there is currently no one on the stem cell donor register who is a perfect match for their little boy.

A mother from Fort William is overwhelmed after receiving the news that a potentially lifesaving stem cell donor has been found for her daughter. Chloe Purvis, who is just nine years old was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disorder and told she urgently needed a stem cell transplant, if she is to be cured.  Thanks to an anonymous donor, her transplant will now take place in a couple of weeks’ time. 

175 supporters took on the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon to help Anthony Nolan cure blood cancer. #TeamAN, who ran for a number of personal reasons, are on track to raise more than £560,000 for the charity.