Barclaycard and Anthony Nolan joined forces yesterday to recruit an army of selfless volunteers to the bone marrow register, inspired by the boy nicknamed ‘GI Joey’.
Barclaycard staff members aged between 16 and 30 signed up en masse across five Barclaycard office sites in the UK, located in Northampton, London, Liverpool, Knutsford and Poole. Nationally they managed to recruit 433 potential lifesavers onto our bone marrow register.
One-year-old Joey Ziadi from Northampton was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disorder Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA) in February this year.
DBA is so rare that Joey is one of just 125 cases diagnosed in the UK. His condition means that Joey fails to produce red blood cells properly and his best hope of a long-term cure is a bone marrow transplant, but first he needs to find a matching donor
His mother, Kaisha Morris, kick-started a national campaign to find match for her ‘GI Joey’ and other families waiting for a donor. Kaisha has tirelessly campaigned to recruit more potential donors and successfully recruited around 1,000 people at recruitment events and online.
Kaisha Morris with Barclaycard staff at the event
Her efforts were also recently recognised as she won the ‘Recruiter of the Year’ award at the Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards last week.
Kaisha Morris, Joey’s mum said, “As a mother who loves her son more than anything, it means the world to me to see Barclaycard teaming up with Anthony Nolan to do all that they can for Joey and others like him.
“This simple act that so many staff members did – spitting in a tube and signing up to the bone marrow register - means there are more options for people in desperate need of a transplant like Joey. Every one of them has a chance to save a life – what’s better than that?”
Fraser Bennett works for Barclaycard and was the first to sign up, saying “All I have to do is a spit in a tube, it was so easy”
Zohra Temal, Director of Supplier Management at Barclaycard, said, “Our staff are passionate about helping find a match for Joey and others like him. Everyone was so touched and inspired by Joey’s story and they have responded in great numbers.
I’m very proud of all our selfless Barclaycard young staff members. I hope that Barclaycard can continue to save lives through Anthony Nolan.”
'It's great that Barclaycard are helping to find a match for Joey and others like him'
Matt Clough, 25, who works for Barclays at the Radbrooke Hall office in Knutsford knows all too well the positive impact that joining the register can have on stranger’s life.
Matt’s two year old George was diagnosed with Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome, the same condition that the charity’s namesake Anthony Nolan had, and was told that he needed a transplant. A match was found for George and he successfully underwent the transplant in April of last year.
Matt and son George
Matt said, “We were incredibly lucky to get the 100% match for George. I would never be able to thank our donor and Anthony Nolan enough, without them we wouldn’t have our son here today. There’s still a long road ahead for us but it’s amazing to think a complete stranger gave our son the chance to be a normal boy.
“It’s great that Barclaycard are helping to find a match for Joey and others like him, and promoting a charity so close to our hearts. I hope they recruit more selfless donors to save people like my son. It’s so simple to sign up to the register but the impact on families like ours is massive.”
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Ann O’Leary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, says, “We are so grateful to everyone at Barclaycard for what they’ve achieved. Kaisha and Barclaycard’s campaign has really captured the imagination of all the staff and they responded by signing up in great numbers.
They worked tremendously hard to raise awareness and it is so well deserved. By signing up so many potential lifesavers to our register they have truly made a big difference in the fight against blood cancer.”
To join the register, you must be aged between 16 and 30, and be in general good health. Click the button below to fill out a short form and join the register:
