Miriam González Durántez has attended a talk for local sixth formers about bone marrow, blood and organ donation, at an event organised by the blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan.
The lawyer, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Local MP Nick Clegg’s wife, attended the Register & Be A Lifesaver event at King Ecgbert School, in Dore, Sheffield, on Tuesday afternoon.
Photos courtesy of Sheffield Newspapers
She joined 100 Lower Sixth students for a talk about the need for more young people to join the Anthony Nolan bone marrow donor register, the organ donor register and to give blood. She also spoke to some of the students about Anthony Nolan and its lifesaving work.
The talk was given as part of the charity’s Register & Be A Lifesaver (R&Be) education programme which is run with NHS Blood and Transplant and which trains volunteers to help teach 16 to 18-year-olds about the importance of donating bone marrow and stem cells, as well as organs and blood.
Since it started, R&Be has seen talks organised in more than 600 schools around the country and has reached almost 150,000 students.
The presentation at King Ecgbert School was given by Keith Sudbury, from Pinxton, Nottinghamshire, who helped to establish the R&Be programme after his son, Adrian, died in 2008 following a battle with leukaemia.
Mr Sudbury explained that having a bone marrow transplant gave Adrian an extra year of life and told the students that they could potentially help save the life of a patient with blood cancer.
Mrs González Durántez has supported the work of Anthony Nolan for many years, and has particularly championed their cord blood programme, calling for better awareness of altruistic umbilical cord donation.
Photos courtesy of Sheffield Newspapers
She said: "I am pleased to take part in the Register & Be A Lifesaver session with students of King Ecgbert School in Sheffield and to support Anthony Nolan’s work on raising awareness of stem cell donation. There are still many people who suffer from blood disorders and for whom a stem cell transplant is the only chance of a cure.
The generosity of young people donating their stem cells will mean more lives saved in future."
Photos courtesy of Sheffield Newspapers
King Ecgbert School’s head teacher, Lesley Bowes, said: “We are delighted to be involved in Anthony Nolan’s Register & Be A Lifesaver programme and we are thrilled that Miriam González Durántez chose to come to a talk at King Ecgbert School.
“R&Be is a hugely important programme and we are proud to know that some of our students will likely go on to save the lives of desperately ill strangers.”
Katie Day, Register & Be A Lifesaver Programme Lead at Anthony Nolan, added: “Miriam González Durántez is a dedicated supporter of Anthony Nolan and we were delighted that she was able to attend this R&Be presentation.
“We are committed to increasing the number of young people on the Anthony Nolan register and R&Be is a hugely important part of achieving this aim. Several young people, who signed up at a presentation just like this one, have now gone on to donate stem cells and potentially save a life.”