Over 150 staff members and counting from local employer Admiral have helped the Marrow for Marley appeal by joining the stem cell and bone marrow donation registry.
Admiral staff recently spent the day registering potential blood stem cell donors on behalf of the charity DKMS. The sessions took place in the company’s headquarters in Cardiff to encourage colleagues to get involved in the fight against blood cancer.
6-year-old Marley Nicholls, from South Wales, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a rare form of blood cancer, that sees only 20-30 diagnosed cases registered per year. Marley’s best hope at living the life he deserves is to seek an unrelated matching donor to donate his/her bone marrow. Without this crucial treatment, Marley’s condition could be fatal.
At present, there are no existing matches on the international stem cell and bone marrow database, so staff at Admiral decided to help by volunteering to collect stem cell donor registrations from their colleagues. So far over 150 staff members from its Cardiff office have signed up with a session at Admiral’s Newport office booked in for December.
Ashley Brunnock, the Admiral staff member who organised the registration, says “Hearing Marley’s story inspired me to help the cause, especially as it’s so close to home. It’s great to see so many of my colleagues getting involved and joining stem cell and bone marrow donation registry.”
Osama El-Amin, from DKMS, said “On behalf of DKMS and Marrow for Marley, we deeply appreciate Admiral for joining the fight against blood cancer. Each registration is a lifesaver-in-waiting and your support is invaluable in our mission to help those seeking a matching stem cell donor. We’re looking forward to seeing more registrations generated from Admiral in the coming months”.
