More young men needed for bone marrow donor register

Tuesday 04 March 2014

More young men are being urged to sign up to donate their bone marrow and help to save lives.

Jersey Friends of Anthony Nolan - the UK's blood cancer charity and bone marrow register - have been giving talks to sixth form students in a bid to get more young people to sign up, because they say that although men aged between 16 and 30 are the most likely to be chosen to donate their bone marrow they make up just 12% of the register.

The charity's vice-chairman Kate Baigent said young men are most likely to be chosen for their bone marrow because they are physically bigger and because they tend to produce better results.

There are currently 1500 across Jersey and Guernsey on the register and Mrs Baigent said the charity has seen two young Islanders in the past year who have been helped by the Anthony Nolan Trust and two who have donated their bone-marrow – all unrelated cases. In 2012 one young Jersey teenager became the Trust’s youngest ever unrelated donor at the age of 17.

She said: “The Trust say we have an interesting mix of tissue types in the Channel Islands and I think it’s because we have a transient population, a good ethnic mix.”

Anthony Nolan was the world’s first bone marrow donor register. The blood cancer charity has been saving lives for four decades by matching people willing to donate their bone marrow to patients in desperate need of a transplant.

Jersey Friends’ volunteers have raised nearly £500,000 for Anthony Nolan over the last 20 years. Head of Community Fundraising at Anthony Nolan Alex Hildrew said: “Many Jersey residents have been personally touched by Anthony Nolan’s lifesaving work. The record-setting fundraising that the volunteers are doing enables us to help more people with blood cancers and disorders."

To join the register, you must be aged between 16 and 30, weigh more than 7st 12lbs (50kgs) and be in general good health. If you are interested in becoming a donor, contact kate.baigent16@gmail.com