Hi everyone,

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! I am running the Bath Half Marathon on the 13th of March 2016 for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

This summer one of my best friends, Alice, was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or bone marrow failure disorder. This little known condition is most common in the elderly - Alice is one of four people in the UK under the age of 30 with MDS. The type that she has means her bone marrow isn't producing normal quantities of white blood cells, red blood cells, or platelets. In 30% of cases MDS progresses to acute myeloid leukaemia. She is currently being treated with regular blood transfusions. The only cure for her is a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. 

At first there was hope that one of her younger siblings would be a match, but unfortunately not. This means, like 70% of others with blood disorders, Alice had to look for a match on the bone marrow register. Currently a 90% match has been found and the transplant scheduled in a few months time, but there may be a better match out there, and many others are still looking for their match.

Two registers exist and co-operate, one by the NHS and one by the Anthony Nolan Trust. £300 is enough to put just 3 people on the register, or to send 30 saliva test kits to potential donors. Any one of those people could be a match for Alice, or one of the other 2,000 people who need a bone marrow transplant in the UK every year. 

So I have two big requests for anyone reading this:

1. Donate some money, to help me help Anthony Nolan help Alice.

2. If you haven't already, sign up as a bone marrow donor! It's free, easy and painless, and I'm going to be saying this to everyone I know until I'm blue in the face, but you could literally save someone's life. If you are 16-30 you can sign up to Anthony Nolan at anthonynolan.org, or 30-49 to the NHS at the same time as signing up to/going to give blood (blood.co.uk).

Lastly, if you're interested in Alice's story, you can read all about it in her wonderfully written, witty and impressively positive blog at alicebyron.com. 

Please donate, your money or your spit, or preferably both!

Thank you so much.