Communities vs Blood Cancer is our annual campaign to raise awareness of Anthony Nolan and its work among elected officials in Westminster and Holyrood. The campaign highlights the need of more stem cell donors.
How does the campaign work?
Communities vs Blood Cancer takes place within Blood Cancer Awareness Month every September. Hosting a ‘drop-in’ event in Westminster and Holyrood for MPs and MSPs, we brief them on the eye-opening stats of registered donors within their constituency.
Each year, the campaign explores new ways to engage elected ministers, from a personalised event invite from Marrow supporters in 2018 to promoting the 10th Anniversary of our prestigious partnership with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in 2019.
2020: Communities vs Blood Cancer goes digital
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we turned Communities vs Blood Cancer entirely digital in 2020. Far from affecting the success of the event, the campaign not only saw 40 MPs up and down the UK tweet their support for the campaign but our Head of Policy and Public Affairs was invited on the local radio to raise awareness.
2020 Leader board
To encourage friendly competition and inspire new sign-ups to the register, we publicise a leader board of the top 10 constituencies in England and Scotland as part of Communities vs Blood Cancer 2020. Below, you can see which regions are setting a high bar, with high numbers of people signed up as potentially lifesaving stem cell donors.
| MP names | Constituency | Total | Rank | Added this year |
| Jonathan Ashworth | Leicester South | 4874 | 1 | 241 |
| Neil O'Brien | Harborough | 4001 | 2 | 304 |
| Mike Freer | Finchley and Golders Green | 3608 | 3 | 273 |
| Claudia Webbe | Leicester East | 3258 | 4 | 109 |
| Dr Matthew Offord | Hendon | 3244 | 5 | 215 |
| Thangam Debbonaire | Bristol West | 3233 | 6 | 179 |
| Keir Starmer | Holborn and St Pancras | 3091 | 7 | 253 |
| Patrick Grady | Glasgow North | 2949 | 8 | 223 |
| Florence Eshalomi | Vauxhall | 2875 | 9 | 211 |
| Simon Fell | Barrow and Furness | 2854 | 10 | 124 |
| MSP names | Scottish Constituency | Total | Rank | Added this year |
| Sandra White | Glasgow Kelvin | 3657 | 1 | 304 |
| Kevin Stewart | Aberdeen Central | 2650 | 2 | 199 |
| Ruth Davidson | Edinburgh Central | 2276 | 3 | 200 |
| Linda Fabiani | East Kilbride | 2023 | 4 | 169 |
| Joe FitzPatrick | Dundee City West | 1987 | 5 | 233 |
| Michael Russell | Argyll and Bute | 1983 | 6 | 48 |
| Daniel Johnson | Edinburgh Southern | 1877 | 7 | 172 |
| Bruce Crawford | Stirling | 1761 | 8 | 144 |
| Jackson Carlaw | Eastwood | 1739 | 9 | 301 |
| Fergus Ewing | Inverness and Nairn | 1615 | 10 | 277 |