In October 2015, just a few weeks after getting married (and before going on honeymoon), our cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Since then he has spent 164 days in hospital, endured 4 different chemotherapy regimes (none of which worked) and cheated death on more than one occasion.  At his lowest point in June 2016 he was dealt the devastating blow that the final drug treatment on the NHS  had failed. At this point he had two options, give up or fight……and fight he did !

A year later, after some incredibly expensive drugs from the US, a miracle German donor, a stem cell transplant and one hell of a fight he is in remission with no detectable signs of cancer.

We are running to raise money and awareness of Anthony Nolan, an organization that saves the lives of people with blood cancer and blood disorders – without them our cousin would never have found the 26 year old German stem cell donor who ultimately saved his life.

Whilst a monetary donation will of course be very gratefully received, what we would love more than that is to try and get as many people registered as potential stem cell donors, as this is what really saves lives.

Registering to become a donor is really simple;  fill in a short form, spit on a cotton bud, send that back and you’re done !  Stem cell / Bone marrow donations are very safe and not like they are portrayed in films – gone are the days of big needles being stuck in to your back – 90% of donations are completed by simple blood donation.

For those of you in the UK and under the age of 30 you can register through Anthony Nolan, those over 30 through DKMS, and those in the US through Be The Match.

ANTHONY NOLAN – UK Under 30: https://webforms.anthonynolan.org/bone-marrow-stem-cell-register/what-does-joining-involve

DKMS – UK Over 30: https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/register-now

BE THE MATCH – USA: https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/join-the-marrow-registry/

Please let us know when you have registered as we would love
to know how many donors we have added – plus it will also give us all the motivation we need to get round the 26.2 hilly miles of NYC !

Many thanks, Cecilia and George x