Following an appeal by the family of a young boy battling leukaemia, the number of Northern Irish people signing up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register has increased by over 2,000%.
Two-year old Charlie Craig from Cookstown urgently needs a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. His family have been leading a campaign encouraging more donors to join the Anthony Nolan register, which has resulted in this huge increase in online applications.
Over 200 donors in Northern Ireland signed up online to join Anthony Nolan’s register between Thursday 20th and Monday 24th February, a massive increase on the same period last year when just seven applied. That’s an incredible 2,757% increase in Northern Irish donors applying online, thanks to young Charlie’s appeal. Anyone of these donors could go on to save somebody’s life.
Anthony Nolan’s website also had over 1,000 visits from Northern Ireland in the same period, compared to 169 last year, which is an astonishing 500% increase.
His parents Cliodhna and Fintan started the campaign to recruit donors after routine blood tests showed Charlie’s leukaemia had returned after a period of remission.
Cliodhna Craig said: ‘We are asking the public to do something amazing - register as a donor and potentially save a life. It could even be Charlie's. We embarked on this donor appeal knowing it could make a difference but have still been astounded at the response.’
How you can help
If you‘re aged between 18-30 and in good health, you can register as a donor online here.
If you’re not eligible to join the register, you can still help us save lives and recruit more donors. Find out how here.