Every 21 minutes someone is diagnosed with leukaemia or a related illness; it is indiscriminate and can affect anyone at any time, regardless of age, race or sex. For thousands of people, the only hope of survival is a stem cell transplant from a complete stranger, either from bone marrow or cord blood.
The Anthony Nolan Trust developed the worlds first system of registering people willing to donate bone marrow to save the life of a stranger; since 1974 The Anthony Nolan trust has found donors for over 7,000 people giving them a chance to survive leukaemia or related illnesses. At any one time there are 16,000 people Who need a donation from a complete stranger to survive; only 1 in 4 people will find a suitable donor within their own family.
Kleinwort Benson is a long term supporter of The Anthony Nolan Trust enabling more than £300,000 to be raised for the charity over the last decade.
Currently, the Charity is able to meet about 50% of the requests it receives from hospitals for bone marrow donors; in 2008 the Charity found 753 donors, saving 2 lives a day. The Anthony Nolan Trust aims to find a match for everyone in need and Kleinwort Benson’s support will help the charity to increase it’s bone marrow register to save more lives.
Great advances in stem cell research has identified that the blood from the umbilical cord of mothers can save the lives of patients with leukaemia and related illnesses. In 2008, The Anthony Nolan Trust established the UK’s first purpose built charitable cord blood bank based in Nottingham, to meet the growing demand for stem cells, taken from umbilical cord blood, for use in transplants. Usually, when a baby is born, the placenta and umbilical cord are thrown away. However by harvesting cord blood for banking and research The Anthony Nolan Trust will help save thousands more lives.
For more information about the work of Anthony Nolan go to www.anthonynolan.org