On Monday 9th April, staff in accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP’s London office took time out of their working days to register as potential lifesavers.
In an event held by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, 45 staff signed up to become bone marrow donors, to give a chance of life to the 1600 people in the UK currently waiting for a bone marrow transplant.
BDO employees were motivated to join the Anthony Nolan register after hearing of the plight of a colleague’s family member who is currently searching for a matching donor to save her life.
Sharon Berger, the sister-in-law of BDO Partner Greg Rubins, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia at Christmas. Her children Jonni and Caroline Berger were devastated to find out that their mother needs a lifesaving bone marrow transplant, but no one in the family is a match.
Many people with blood cancer, like Sharon, need a bone marrow transplant from a stranger to help save their life. But the donor must have a matching tissue type and Anthony Nolan is only able to find a match for half of those in desperate need. In order to make more matches and save more lives, Anthony Nolan needs to grow its register of donors.
The event at BDO’s Baker Street office focussed on recruiting people aged 16–30 onto the bone marrow register. BDO staff were asked to fill in a short medical form and provide a saliva sample to join the register, taking ten minutes out of their lives to potentially give someone with blood cancer the rest of theirs.
Greg Rubins, Partner, BDO LLP said: ‘’Spit to Save a Life’ it’s as simple as that. It could be your mum, sister, auntie, cousin, wife, grandma, friend or even a stranger - your spit could find the cure. Donation is a simple process, very similar to donating blood. I’m thankful to those BDO employees who have and will register, helping my sister–in-law Sharon Berger and thousands like her in desperate need.’
Lynsey Dickson, Regional Recruitment Manager at Anthony Nolan, said: ‘Sharon’s just one of the 1600 people in the UK who urgently need a lifesaving bone marrow transplant from a matching donor. Joining the register is so simple: you fill in a short medical form and provide a saliva sample. We particularly need young men to join to give patients like Sharon a chance of life.’
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