MP appeals for young men to do something special

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Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP is calling for young men in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale to do something special. The MP has joined other politicians in pledging to recruit at least ten men each between the ages to 18 and 30 to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register.

Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. Every day, they use their register to match remarkable donors willing to donate their blood stem cells to people who desperately need potentially lifesaving transplants.

However, there is a shortage of young male donors on the bone marrow register. Men aged 18-30 account for 80 per cent of donations, but make up just 19 per cent of the register. Presently, Anthony Nolan can only find a matching donor for half the people who come to them in desperate need of a lifesaving transplant so this summer they are aiming to recruit 10,000 more young men to the register.

Mr Dobbin plans to write to youth groups, colleges and other community groups as well as raising this with young people he meets around the constituency over the summer.

Mr Dobbin, said: “It’s time we showed people that our young people are the best. I am asking at least 10 young men in Heywood Middleton and Rochdale to join the stem cell register to save someone’s life.”

If every MP recruited just ten young men to the Anthony Nolan register, that would make up 6,500 new recruits towards the charity’s ten thousand target. These new donors could be saving lives by Christmas.

Anthony Nolan has provided every MP with a unique code to give to constituents so the charity can track how many young men MPs have recruited. Young men interested in the chance to save someone’s life should go to www.anthonynolan.org/mp and enter the code VQN8