Players from Everton's 1995 FA Cup winning team are calling on fans to sign up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register in memory of Everton legend Gary Ablett. Gary died in January 2012 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.
The club is working with blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan to host a recruitment event at Goodison Park on 8th April from 3pm-7pm. Anyone aged 16–30 is encouraged to sign up to the bone marrow register. For someone with blood cancer, a bone marrow transplant can be their last chance of survival.
Ablett's former teammate Stuart has thrown his weight behind the campaign, saying: "It's vitally important that as many people as possible go along to the donation event at Goodison. Anthony Nolan is a fantastic charity and they do an awful lot of good work. It's so sad what happened to Gary, but he is just one of number of people who have been hit by this terrible disease and you never know if a blood disorder might strike someone in your family as well. I would urge local people to get down to Goodison on 8 April and hopefully do some good for a family in the future."
Gary Ablett’s niece, Toni Moore, joined the register after Gary was diagnosed and donated her bone marrow in November last year.
Toni, 23, says, “When Gary was told that he needed a bone marrow transplant to save his life, we all decided to sign up to the register. We knew that we wouldn’t be a match for him, but we could be a match for someone else in his position – it was such an important thing to do.”
There are over 470,000 people on the Anthony Nolan register, but the charity can still only find a suitable donor for around half the people who come to them in need. The charity particularly needs young men to sign up to the register, as they make the best donors, and 90% of people donate using a process similar in nature to giving blood. Those who can’t make the event can sign up online at anthonynolan.org/register.
Toni adds, “Donating really wasn’t a big deal,” she adds, “until I was told that my recipient was a woman. It suddenly hit me that I’d just given someone’s mum, sister or wife another chance this Christmas. Nothing can be more important than that.”
Event details:
Monday 8th April, 3pm-7pm
Goodison Park
Liverpool, UK