Grimsby Hospital radio DJ Colin Binns, from Cleethorpes, has organised a special awareness day at the NHS Trust, to encourage the public to support Anthony Nolan.
Colin, a two-time bone marrow donor, was inspired to hold the day, after completing his second donation in January this year. He’s urging others to follow his example and join the bone marrow register to give people with blood cancer the chance of life.
Colin joined the register ten years ago after spotting a leaflet about Anthony Nolan while giving blood in Cleethorpes.
He received his first call-up in 2006 after being matched to a patient in Germany, and travelled down to London to donate via PBSC, a process similar to giving blood. He made his second donation to a different patient in January and has just found out that his recipient is doing well.
Colin said: ‘A lot of people think it's a major operation but it's not. Before you have the procedure you have four days of consecutive injections – three at home administered by a nurse, and one at the clinic in London. The charity put you up in a hotel and you get an early night before going to the clinic at 8.30am the next morning.
‘You are connected to a machine which takes blood out of one arm and then the other. It’s similar to when you give blood, except this machine spins the blood to filter it. The whole process takes around four hours.’
He’d encourage anyone who’s worried about the procedure being painful to find out more online: ‘Your arms ache a bit but it is not painful. You feel a bit lightheaded but I found the way to overcome that is to drink fruit juice and tuck into the lunch they provide.’
After being checked, the donated bone marrow is taken by courier to the patient for transplant. Colin added: ‘It doesn't half give you a buzz and you feel proud of what you have done.’
Craig Wills, Community Co-ordinator at Anthony Nolan, said: ‘Anthony Nolan’s mission is to provide a lifesaving transplant for every person who needs one, but in order to do this we need to grow our bone marrow register. We need to raise awareness of the need for more donors and also the vital funds which allow us to add each new person to the register.