Young men could be the key says Anthony Nolan charity boss backing bid to help seriously ill Highland tot Adeline Davidson find stem cell donor match
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THE chief of a stem cell donor charity is telling young men they could have it in them to save the life of three-year-old Highland girl.
The family of Adeline Davidson last week issued a heartfelt plea for potential donors to join global registers that can match them with desperately ill people needing a second chance of life.
That was after they learned that two best-match donors for Adeline, who has a rare form of blood cancer, had fallen through because of coronavirus-related considerations.
"For someone like little Adeline with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their last chance of survival. You could be their matching stem cell donor and give that person, their family and their friends, a second chance of life."
Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan, said: "It’s been really interesting for us to see how many selfless people have donated stem cells to patients here, and across the globe.Unfortunately, another global phenomenon, the coronavirus pandemic, has had a serious impact on our ability to talk to men about the Anthony Nolan register and about their lifesaving potential.
"We’re urging young men to join us this Blood Cancer Awareness Month, because young men make up over 50 per cent of those asked to donate stem cells each year but make up just 18 per cent of the Anthony Nolan register.
"For someone like little Adeline with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their last chance of survival. You could be their matching stem cell donor and give that person, their family and their friends, a second chance of life."
From March to August last year, Anthony Nolan held over 300 stem cell donor recruitment events and added over 12,500 donors to the register. Since lockdown, they’ve held none. The charity saw 19,000 fewer people sign up the register compared to the same period in 2019, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Anthony Nolan is now putting out an urgent call for more young people, especially young men, to join the stem cell donor register.
Young men aged between 16 and 30, who are in good general health, can join online at www.anthonynolan.org /
After completing the form Anthony Nolan will send a swab pack in the post for potential donors to complete and return. The charity will confirm each new donor’s tissue type; and add them to the stem cell register. Every time Anthony Nolan is informed a patient is in need of a lifesaving transplant, they will compare the patient’s tissue type to the 800,000 people on the register.
Adeline and her family are from Alness in Easter Ross.
