Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  I am raising money for the Anthony Nolan Charity which saves the lives of people with blood cancer who need a blood stem cell transplant.  As a charity, they need more funds to grow the register of people willing to donate their stem cells. The more funds we have, the more lives can be saved.

 

I am doing this by cycling over 440 gruelling kilometres over 4 days across France and into Italy from Nice to Pisa from Sept 9^th to 13^th 2011.  

 

To see the distance and the route – please see my JustGiving photos!

 

This cycle has been entirely organised and self-funded by myself, and I would like to utilise this opportunity by raising some much needed sponsorship in aid of Anthony Nolan, the charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer who need a blood stem cell, or bone marrow, transplant.

 

• £10 is the average cost of a saliva sample kit. Saliva samples tell us whether a potential donor is a match.
• £20 could help towards the cost of storing a lifesaving cord blood sample.
• £50 could help towards the cost of recruiting and tissue typing a new potential donor to find out if they’re a match.

 

There are 1,600 people in the UK in need of a stem cell transplant, which is usually their last hope of survival in the fight against blood cancer.

 

Why Anthony Nolan?

• 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.