Got five minutes to save a life?

Thursday 04 December 2014

If you’ve got a moment to pop into the Town Hall today you could help to save the life of a man suffering from leukaemia.

Chris Le Brun (48) from Ontario in Canada comes from an old Jersey family, and he was diagnosed with the condition in May. After testing his siblings with no success, doctors say that Chris' only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant.

And today, the Jersey Friends of Anthony Nolan is appealing to young men and women aged between 16 and 30 to join their register of potential donors to help Chris and people like him. They are running a session from 12 noon to 4.30 pm today at the Town Hall at which potential donors can fill out a simple form and give a spit sample.

The group say that they hope to add another 100 more names to their local register – they already have 1,308 people on their books. In the period from September 2010 to September 2013, three people from Jersey made bone marrow donations to strangers after learning that they were a match through the register scheme.

The Jersey Friends Fundraising in Aid of Anthony Nolan say that they hope as many people as possible will come to today’s event, and spare five minutes that could save someone’s life.

They said: “The more people that are on the register of donors, the better the chance that Chris has to find a lifesaving match. It’s as simple as that.

“At ‘Spit for life’, all potential donors need do is complete a short form and give us a spit sample. That’s right, spit. It really is that easy to become a potential lifesaver.

“A saliva sample is self-collected, without the need any longer for a health professional to take a blood sample. At recruitment events, there is now no need for trained phlebotomists, and health and safety measures are simplified. This means that we are able to recruit people much more quickly and efficiently than previously."