STEM CELL DONOR RUNS SECOND MARATHON FOR ANTHONY NOLAN

Stuart Halfpenny, from West Sussex, is running the London Marathon on 17 April for Anthony Nolan, a charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer who need blood stem cell, or bone marrow, transplants. Stuart has strong links with the charity, as he joined the Anthony Nolan register in 2004, donated blood stem cells in 2006, and ran the London Marathon to raise funds for them in 2007.

In 2009, the person who received Stuart’s donated stem cells made contact with him, and they met up a year later. Sadly, four months after meeting, Stuart’s recipient died. Stuart, 33, says, “The stem cell donation was an extraordinary experience. It was an incredible feeling knowing that I’d given someone four more years of life. When she sadly passed away, I wanted to do something else to help, so I decided to run the London Marathon again to raise awareness of Anthony Nolan.”

In 2011, after Stuart had signed up to the marathon, his father was diagnosed with MDS and has been advised that he will need a blood stem cell transplant. Stuart adds, “Now I’ve got even more reason to tell people about Anthony Nolan’s work and encourage them to join the register. Even if they’re not a match for my Dad, they could be a match for someone else.” 

There are over 400,000 people on the Anthony Nolan register, but currently the charity can only find a match for half the people in need of a blood stem cell transplant. Their aim is to grow the register to one million potential donors. For more information, or to join the register, please call 0303 303 0303 or visit www.anthonynolan.org. To support Stuart’s marathon attempt, please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StuartHalfpenny.

For more information, please contact Ellen Marshall on 020 7424 6606 / 07824 362106 or email ellen.marshall@anthonynolan.org.

Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. Every day,  we use our register to match remarkable donors willing to donate their blood stem cells, or bone marrow, to people they have never met who desperately need lifesaving transplants.

We provide two potentially lifesaving transplants every day, but for every patient we can help, there is another who sadly we can’t because no match can be found.

To join the register, you must be aged between 18 and 40, weigh more than 8 stone (51kg) and be in general good health. For more information on the donating process, or to apply to join the register, visit www.anthonynolan.org or call 0303 303 0303.

On average, 65 people a day in the UK are diagnosed with a blood cancer – that’s one person every 23 minutes.

There are nearly 1,600 people in the UK in need of a bone marrow transplant.  This is usually their last chance of survival.70% of patients will not find a matching donor from within their families.80% of donations take place via PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell collection).  This is an outpatient appointment and is similar to donating blood.

Most donors talk about how wonderful it is to have saved someone’s life.

All new donors are welcome but young males and people from ethnic minority and mixed race backgrounds are underrepresented on the register.