People’s Choice Award 2023 Gold £50-100 million
On 2 December 2021, Anthony Nolan would’ve celebrated his 50th birthday. Tragically, Anthony never found the matching donor he needed and he died when he was just seven years old. But since his mum Shirley launched the world’s first stem cell register in 1974, Anthony’s story has given the hope of a lifesaving transplant to thousands of people with blood cancer or a blood disorder.
To mark Anthony’s 50th birthday, we’re celebrating his legacy and the incredible progress Shirley brought to the way blood cancer and blood disorders are treated.
Below, you can see some of the inspiring stories and achievements that wouldn’t have happened #WithoutAnthony.
1974: The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register is established: the first of its kind. Today, it’s helped 22,000 people receive a lifesaving transplant. Before this, finding an unrelated stem cell donor was virtually impossible.
1993: Building of the Anthony Nolan Research Institute begins. Today, it's driving ground-breaking research to reduce transplant complications and improve quality of life after transplant.
1994 & 1995: The Anthony Nolan register helps its 1,000th patient, matching them with an anonymous donor for the second chance of life that Shirley believed everyone deserved.
2008: Anthony Nolan sets up the UK’s first dedicated cord blood bank enabling 62,000 new mothers to follow in Shirley’s lifesaving footsteps, donating their umbilical cords for transplant and research
2020: The 800,000th person joined the stem cell register, taking Shirley’s vision to inspiring new heights. Bring on the million!
About Anthony Nolan
Anthony Nolan is a UK stem cell transplant charity with 50 years of expertise in uniting science and people to push the boundaries of what can be achieved for blood cancer and blood disorder patients.
Its world-leading stem cell register matches potential donors to patients in need of transplants. It carries out cell and gene therapy research to increase transplant success and supports patients through their transplant journeys.
Anthony Nolan helps four people in need of a transplant a day, giving more people a second chance at life. But the charity won’t stop until all patients have access to the treatment they need, so many more survive.
Stem cells hold enormous potential and have the power to help people with blood cancers and blood disorders. This potential inspires everything Anthony Nolan does. Driven by patients, backed by stem cell donors, and powered by science, the charity won’t stop until the lifesaving potential of the cells inside us all has been uncovered.
Join Anthony Nolan’s register or support its research. Together, with your help, Anthony Nolan can unlock the answers inside us anthonynolan.org
What is a stem cell transplant?
If a patient has a condition that affects their bone marrow or blood, then a stem cell transplant may be their best chance of survival. Doctors will give new, healthy stem cells to the patient via their bloodstream, where they begin to grow and create healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
Key statistics
• Founded by Shirley Nolan in 1974, Anthony Nolan celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
• The charity facilitates around 1,100 stem cell transplants from an unrelated donor every year for patients in the UK and more than 300 for patients abroad. For many, a transplant is their last chance of survival.
• Since its inception Anthony Nolan has facilitated over 26,500 transplants for people around the world.
• Around 90% of donors donate through PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell collection). This is a simple, outpatient procedure. Donors are supported throughout the process by the Anthony Nolan team.
• Currently 16% of the UK Anthony Nolan stem cell register is made up of young men, but they account for more than half of people called upon to donate.
• There is a pressing need to recruit more people from diverse backgrounds to the Anthony Nolan register, to help more patients from minority ethnic backgrounds find the lifesaving matches they need.
• Blood cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK and the third biggest cancer killer. It accounts for 9% of all new cases of cancer diagnosed in the UK.
• To join the Anthony Nolan register, you must be 16-30 and healthy. Anthony Nolan’s world-leading Research Institute has shown younger donors offer better survival rates for patients.
Please register using the form below.
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