LHS UK To Host Second Parliamentary Donor Drive in Westminster, London, UK tomorrow March 17th 2015
It is with great excitement that we can announce that Love Hope Strength UK (in partnership with Delete Blood Cancer UK), will be hosting a second Donor Recruitment Drive in the House Of Commons, Westminster, London, England on 17th March.
You may now be asking why the great excitement? The reason being two fold, firstly we recruited 97 new potential donors from the Recruitment Drive we held back in 2013 and secondly because one of those new recruits, John Glen, MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire UK, proved to be a match and incredibly was able to donate stem cells to a blood cancer patient who required them for survival.
Photo: John Glen MP at his Stem Cell Donation Procedure in London, UK 28th January 2015.
Speaking of his donation John has said “It is a huge privilege to be asked to donate some of my blood stem cells to someone with a blood cancer who is in desperate need of them. I would encourage everyone in my Constituency of Salisbury and throughout the UK to sign up to the Delete Blood Cancer UK register directly or through their partnership with Love Hope Strength.”
It only takes a few minutes to register and is via a simple mouth swab. Nothing scary, but those few minutes could save a life as indeed the life of Mark Tami MP’s child was saved when his son was diagnosed with a very aggressive acute form of leukaemia with a stem cell transplant being the only chance of survival. Mark has said “without the selfless act of this marvellous person to put it bluntly my son would not be alive today. He is just about to turn 17 and is studying 4 A/S levels and hoping to go to university next year. I really mean it when I say that I think about my son’s donor every day”
Deirdra Taylor, Director of Communications and Donor Relations at Delete Blood Cancer UK has said recently that “less than half of those in the UK in need of a lifesaving blood stem cell donation find a matching donor”.
Mike Peters, co-founder of Love, Hope and Strength and lead singer with the band the Alarm and also a leukaemia survivor added “Love Hope Strength has campaigned for years to raise the age of donors in the UK from 30 to 55 (in line with other countries), and through partnership with Delete Blood Cancer UK, can now offer this opportunity to blood cancer patients hoping to find a match. With one in two people in the UK not being able to find a donor, John’s story highlights the need for as many people as possible to be registered so that everyone, everywhere who needs a donor, can find one”.
Delete blood Cancer UK’s age bracket for potential donors is 17-55 which now also means that potential donors if registered before their 55th Birthday can stay on the active register of donors for a further 5 years as was the case with Chris Ruane MP (Denbighshire), who registered back in 2013 just 1 month before his 56th Birthday and will now stay on the list of potential donors until he is 61.
With the support of both the British Government All Party Cancer and Stem Cell Groups, Love Hope Strength and Delete Blood Cancer hope that more British MP’s and members of staff will not only come along to the session on 17th March but actively encourage and support thousands of people in the UK and around the world to become potential stem cell donors and give blood cancer patients a real chance of survival.
LHS has been campaigning for many years on this issue and it is so exciting to feel that all the hard work and effort made possible with the support of Delete Blood Cancer UK and so many others like you, is finally coming to fruition.
Thank you so much for your support.
Mike Peters (Co-Founder), and all at Love Hope Strength Foundation