By Anup Prajapati
NHSF (UK) Finance Team
Saturday 10th September 2011 marked the launch of two national organisations working together to save lives. At National Hindu Students Forum’s [(NHSF) (UK)] September Training Day, the student run sector of Anthony Nolan Marrow held a donor recruitment event to enable Hindu students from across the country to join the blood stem cell register and potentially save someone’s life.
Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer who need a blood stem cell, or bone marrow, transplant. Anthony Nolan’s mother, Shirley, set up the world’s first bone marrow register in 1974 to match donors with people who desperately needed a transplant. The register now saves two people every day who are in need of a transplant.
The chances of finding a match for a patient from any ethnic minority group can be as low as 40%. Currently there are 420,000 people on Anthony Nolan’s register, of which only 4% are Asian. The most likely match for a patient will come from the same ethnic group, so we urgently need more people of Asian origin on the register to increase the chance of saving peoples lives. Donating your bone marrow is possibly one of the truest acts of sewa you can perform, as you could potentially save someone’s life, having a great impact on the family of the recipient – whilst both parties remain anonymous.
FAQs, Myths & Facts
One of the most asked questions about donating is “Is it painful?” It’s not as bad as many people think. Around 80% of donations follow a similar process to donating blood, called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Collection. Even though a minority may feel mild flu-like symptoms, most talk about how wonderful it feels to help save a life.
There are many myths about bone marrow donation which are not true – visit the Anthony Nolan website to find out more information – but more importantly, REGISTER.
Signing Up:
So how do you sign up, you ask? There are several ways:
1) Attend a sign up session at one of the universities run by your local Marrow
2) Look out for the Anthony Nolan stall at future NHSF (UK) events
3) Sign up online via the Anthony Nolan website
If you want more information on Anthony Nolan or bone marrow, please visit the website or if you want information on the work NHSF is doing with Marrow, please contact Anup on anup.prajapati@nhsf.org.uk
You don’t need to be a doctor to save a life!!