Joining Anthony Nolan

I was a bit disappointed when the postman arrived this morning. I love to write letters and have loads of penpals from all over the world. Usually there are at least a few pretty looking letters pushed through my door and I always enjoy reading what's going on in my friends bit of the world. Today though there was just the one plain white envelope, it all looked a bit official and I wasn't impressed.

At least I wasn't impressed until I opened it. I had expected it to be a bill or something boring like that but it wasn't. It was a letter from The Anthony Nolan Trust saying that I was now on the register to donate blood stem cells or bone marrow.

Another challenge ticked off! But more importantly than that I'm doing something that could really make a difference to someone with blood cancer. For many people suffering from a blood cancer, such as leukaemia, a blood stem cell transplant may be their last chance of life. The Anthony Nolan Trust match patients in desperate need of a transplant with donors from their register. Unfortunately at the moment they are only able to find matching donors for around half the people who need them. They really need more donors and it's really easy to do. I had to fill in an online questionnaire, then send off a spit kit to be tested and that was about it.

Of course now I'm on the register I am a bit worried about geting that call saying they want me to donate. While they do everything the can to make it as comforable as possible, I can't imagine it's going to be pleasant. It's got to be more pleasant than losing a loved one to blood cancer though and if a couple of days discomfort for me could prevent that for someone else then it's got to be worth it. In fact I'd be proud to do it.