Anthony Nolan Register

doodah said:
One of the ladies who will draw my blood at work did mention they are endless vacutainers :p - though I didn't consider how much in total it will be. Must be less then I give for blood donation though (~pint). Will report back.

Haha I am now getting bone marrow junk mail - a day after this all started.
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I dunno how long over they take a pint, but they did my five vials in a couple of minutes. Had to have a seat for 20 minutes to recover :D
 
Jokester said:
I dunno how long over they take a pint, but they did my five vials in a couple of minutes. Had to have a seat for 20 minutes to recover :D
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I know this is a lot less than blood donation but you're right, it sure does feel a fair bit especially with my pesky vains requiring multiple attempts. We just ended up using a syringe to get enough for the last 3/4 vacutainers. Feel a touch light headed and my arms hurt :D - glad I am not fasting today :p.

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Fingers crossed I can be a donor :).
 
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Eeeek I got the email. After about a 4 month wait after sending my blood samples, they told me I wouldn't be needed as the patient wasn't ready. A month or two later and they now want me to wait in reserve as the primary donor, the patient still isn't ready but are aiming for February 2020 to request a donation. They haven't said which type yet! All for a good cause but it definitely just became real - now to convince my slightly hypochondriac wife this will all be fine :p, she's got a big work event today so I will wait until I get home.
 
Bloody hell, as if it was nearly 2 years ago I last posted on this thread.

AN rang me last week to let me know the same patient is in need of blood stem cells (they didn't follow through last time). I think it's actually going ahead this time. I have a medical later in the week, a great chance to see how health/unhealthy I am, and then I have to take 4 days of injections to promote more stem cell generation.

If all goes well, will be donating in the middle of August. Fingers crossed I will be able to donate. Get registering if you are interested and haven't already :).
 
doodah said:
Bloody hell, as if it was nearly 2 years ago I last posted on this thread.

AN rang me last week to let me know the same patient is in need of blood stem cells (they didn't follow through last time). I think it's actually going ahead this time. I have a medical later in the week, a great chance to see how health/unhealthy I am, and then I have to take 4 days of injections to promote more stem cell generation.

If all goes well, will be donating in the middle of August. Fingers crossed I will be able to donate. Get registering if you are interested and haven't already :).
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This is incredible. Good on you for donating. I know what it’s like full well when they start the search for a compatible bone marrow match.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Damn I would have loved to join this, year too old!
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Hhhmm is that age limit 30? I just Googled and it seems to think it's that. I am 36 :confused: - am sure they know this.
dirtychinchilla said:
Yes, for new applications. If you look on their website, though, if you are already registered they keep you as a potential donor until 61 so you're OK!

Good luck with the donations.
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That will teach me for not looking harder, thank you.

Medical tomorrow - fingers crossed I pass.
 
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Medical passed :), still waiting for the actual report myself but only takeaway I got on the day was my resting heart rate was good (mid 50s).

Injections start on Saturday and donation day is on the 11th. Anthony Nolan have been handling all of this very well, a coordinator basically does everything. I have also suggested we have this as a small piece for International Men's Day at work, as they still struggle getting men (particularly BAME men) on the register.

I plan to watch 2 films whilst donating so need to pick 2 great choices.....
 
Thumbs up @doodah and anyone else on the register. I had stem cells extracted about 15 months ago. They wanted 4M stem cells and I only coughed up 3.3M so had to go for a 2nd day. Felt pretty weird during the process as the anti-coagulant can reduce your calcium levels. They gave me plenty of calcium during the process to help that. Felt fine by mid evening on the 2nd day. I know who got my stem cells, it was me! I assume the extraction process though is the same though. I streamed a couple of things during the process via my mobile, a good distraction. Good luck to you and your recipient.
 
Glad to hear yours went OK :).

Same with me, there were 2 other guys donating at the same time. The staff were so nice and attentive, didn't even bother watching my films. Only had slightly tingling on my lips and was a bit tired afterwards. Supposedly they collected 13M cells instead of the target 5M :eek: (need to check this), just hope it all goes OK with the recipient. A few friends have joined the registry so happy with that.
 
Bit of a bump and update. Can't believe it's been a year since the donation. Got an email update about my recipient, unfortunately they recently passed away (could be one of many reasons). Hit me harder than I expected, especially as I thought it was a teenage/young adult male. It turned out it was a >70 year old man, obviously still upsetting but there's a little solace that they lived a fuller life compared to someone 50+ years younger and the donation gave them a little longer to spend with their family. I've sent on some condolences to them.

Always a good opportunity to remind people of what charities like Anthony Nolan do, and if interested, how to join their or The British Bone Marrow Registry's registers.

Anthony Nolan (AN) is the charity that makes lifesaving connections between people with blood cancer and incredible strangers ready to donate their stem cells.

A lot of this life saving work is thanks to their stem cell register, by growing the register, they can continue carrying out ground-breaking research and provide the best post-transplant care. However, even with over half a million people on the register, AN still urgently need to increase the size and diversity of potential donors. To join their register, you must be between 16 and 30 and in good health. You’ll stay on our register until you’re 61.

AN are particularly keen to recruit more young men to their register, as they're more likely to be chosen to donate and are underrepresented. They also need more people from minority ethnic backgrounds to sign up to help give everyone an equal chance of finding a matching donor. Young men aged 16–30 make up only 18% of our register but provide over half of all donations.

People from minority ethnic backgrounds often have rarer tissue types which makes it harder to find matching donors. That means AN need to recruit even more donors from minority ethnic backgrounds, so they are overrepresented on the register. This includes people from African, African-Caribbean, Asian, Chinese, Eastern European, Mediterranean and mixed-race backgrounds.

The first step to joining the register is filling in a form and then doing a cheek swab. If you apply online, they can send you a swab pack in the post, or you can come along to one of their recruitment events in your local area. You then stay on the register until you’re 61, and AN will be in touch if you’re ever a potentially lifesaving match for someone. If you join the register as a donor, here is what happens when you receive a match:
  1. Get matched on the register, attend a full medical (around 2 hours).
  2. If you pass your medical and a donation date is set, you will then be booked for 4 days of G-CSF injections (this helps stimulate the production of more stem cells). A nurse can visit your home or workplace to do these, or you can do them yourself after the nurse visits you for the first session.
  3. On donation day - you attend a hospital/clinic and it's like a blood donation expect you have one needle in each arm (one taking your blood out to be filtered for the PBSCs and the other needle to return your blood). With luck the donation should be completed on day 1 (4-5 hours), if enough PBSCs haven't been collected, you return the next day to complete.
  4. An Anthony Nolan coordinator handles all aspects (taxis, reimbursements, courier for samples, bookings etc) so it makes the whole process quite straight forward.
You can find out more information and register with AN here. Alternatively, you can register with The British Bone Marrow Registry here, who allow donors of up to 40 years old to join.
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Sorry i missed this first time around, but congratulations on donating, an amazing thing to be able to do.

Its really sad that your recipient passed away, but even if you gave him another year of life thats an absolutely incredible thing to be able to do! A year ago it was incredibly hard for people to see their sick and elderly relatives so that extra bit of time could well have been much more meaningful.

Completely agree with the sentiment as well, I've been signed up for years, been called up twice but never the best match (and getting too old now). Its one of the rare things us everyday people can do that is almost guaranteed to save someone's life!
 
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