Putting people on the register who are statistically unlikely to be selected is not only expensive but also diverts our scientists away from processing the samples of younger volunteers who are more likely to be selected. We will save more lives by ensuring that we have a register of people who are most likely to be selected by transplant clinicians. Also we are proactively recruiting younger donors from minority ethnic backgrounds to increase the diversity of the register.

Please visit the NHS Blood & Transplant website for more information.

If you donate, you'll be asked if you want to stay on our register and potentially donate again.

Although it’s unusual, some of our donors have donated more than once. We allow donors to give stem cells a maximum of four times.

You can join our register by completing this form. Please mention that you’ve been tissue typed before.

We’d appreciate it if you could forward us a copy of your HLA tissue typing results by email to donor.support@anthonynolan.org .You should be able to get the tissue typing report from the hospital that did your testing.

If you have any questions, please do give us a call on 0303 303 0303.

No. It's highly unlikely that two friends will share the same genetic profile. The best hope for your friend is to find a donor on our register, or on another international register.

But if you’re 16–30 years old and in good health, you could join our register and potentially save someone’s life.

The majority of our donors and recipients never meet.

For two years after the procedure, donors and recipients can only contact each other through messages sent via our team. After two years, and only if the recipient instigates it, they can exchange contact details.

Some other registers and transplant centres don’t allow contact at all, or have different guidelines. So if they’re involved in a transplant, donors and recipients may have to follow their rules.

We have strict rules so there can be no suggestion of a potential donor being coerced or induced to donate for financial or other reward. We also strongly believe in the importance of protecting the privacy of both the recipient and the donor.

Yes. We can search registers in countries around the world to find a match for someone in the UK. That’s over 38 million potential donors.

They could be anywhere in the world, but they are more likely to be in the UK.

We link with registers worldwide to find matches for people in the UK and provide stem cells for people in need abroad.

You’ll probably feel tired and have a little bruising after, but this generally passes within a week or so. You’ll receive lots of information and support for how to deal with them.

If you need to give cells from your bone marrow (found inside your large bones), doctors will give you a general anaesthetic and draw the cells from your pelvis using a sterile needle and syringe.

You will need to stay in hospital for two nights if you donate bone marrow.