We’re excited to announce that we will be working with Aston Villa Football Club to recruit new donors to the Anthony Nolan register. The relationship arose after club captain Stiliyan Petrov was diagnosed with leukaemia, a form of blood cancer, in March this year.
As part of “Support Stan – Register and Run”, Villa will host a recruitment event at the stadium on 6 May, when they face Spurs in their last game of the season. Fans can join the register by filling out a short form and providing a small saliva sample.
Aston Villa is also helping Anthony Nolan and Cure Leukaemia, a local research charity, to raise awareness of leukaemia and what fans can do to help. The club will provide information about both charities in its match day programme and on its website.
Ravinder Masih, Community Relationship Manager for Aston Villa says, “We’re delighted to be hosting Anthony Nolan on our last game of the season. The support for Stan has been overwhelming and anyone who signs up to the register could potentially save a life, so I hope that fans take advantage of this opportunity to make a difference in combating leukaemia.”
Jenner Large, regional recruitment manager for Anthony Nolan adds, “We particularly need young men aged 18-30 to sign up, as they make the best donors yet account for just 12% of the register. Working with Aston Villa is a great opportunity for us to reach that key demographic, and we’d like to show fans that even though they can’t help Stiliyan, they could help save the life of someone like him.”
The recruitment event will take place in the Aston Villa Academy from 11.00am-2.00pm, where volunteers from the Moseley Round Table will man the stall. If fans would like to join the register but are unable to make the event, they can sign up online at www.anthonynolan.org/spit.
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