Last year, the world’s biggest rugby players put their rivalries aside to support a campaign called HelpHollie. Hollie Clark was an 8 year old girl from Cardiff, whose family set up the HelpHollie campaign to find her a stem cell donor and raise funds for Anthony Nolan. Hollie’s family launched the #PantsOnYourHead hashtag, encouraging rugby stars and other celebrities to wear their pants on their head to raise awareness of our register. The results were unprecedented. In this blog post ahead of tomorrow's England v Wales match, her uncle Matthew remembers how the world’s rugby community united when a little girl in Cardiff needed help.
In our family, rugby is everything! My brother Steve and I are massive rugby fans and always have been.
When my beautiful niece, Hollie, was diagnosed with MDS and told she would need a bone marrow transplant, as a family we wanted to do anything we could to get more people on the Anthony Nolan donor register, to find that special person for Hollie or for other children like her.
Wales is a rugby-mad country and Steve and I have a few connections to the Welsh team, so when we learned that young men were in urgent demand as donors, our rugby connections seemed like the best way to start spreading the word.
Matthew and his daughter supporting our #IGiveASpit campaign
Sam Warburton, the Welsh rugby captain, lives a mile up the road from us in Cardiff and we have a mutual friend, so we started with him.
But we had a pretty unusual ask for Sam – could he put his pants on his head and take a selfie?!
Sam Warburton
A brilliant idea
The idea for the #pantsonyourhead campaign began when Hollie was in a hospital bed, after receiving her first treatment. At this time, the only way some of our family could communicate with her was by using FaceTime.
I put my underwear on my head to make her laugh while I was talking to her on FaceTime and it sparked an idea for a way we could raise awareness about Anthony Nolan in a way that was fun and personal to Hollie.
Luckily, Sam was a great sport and tweeted his ‘pants on head’ selfie with a call-to-action to join the Anthony Nolan register. He was quickly followed by the commentator Jonathan Davies, who is a demi-god in Wales!
The rugby community is like one big family, even at an international level there’s very little rivalry, so as a community, they’re very approachable. Also, English players might play in France and vice versa, so they all know each other and there’s a lot of banter and camaraderie between players.
Putting your pants on your head appealed to this bantery side of rugby culture, plus it was a really easy thing to ask them to do - they could even do it in the changing rooms.
Jonathan Davies
Going viral
So once we’d tapped into the world of international rugby, it quickly snowballed – but we never imagined our ‘pants’ campaign would cross the world in the way that it did!
Suddenly we had nearly the whole Wales, England and Scotland rugby teams putting their pants on their heads, in a bid to find a donor for Hollie.
From England legends like Austin Healy, Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott, to Australian player David Campese – one of the biggest rugby names of all time. The All-Blacks were also incredibly supportive, and the HelpHollie campaign even started trending in New Zealand, thanks to pant-tastic pics from the likes of Kevin Mealamu and Ma’a Nonu.
Hollie’s dad Steve is a huge fan of the All Blacks, so it was amazing for him to see his heroes supporting his daughter from the other side of the world.
New Zealand rugby stars
Word was spreading and it wasn’t even just rugby players – we were bowled over when famous actors and footballers – including Gareth Bale – joined in.
Knowing that so many people cared about Hollie gave us all a lift during an incredibly difficult time. It was something to focus on, a way of regaining control and making a difference.
And it wasn’t just famous rugby players, but local rugby clubs were posting team pictures and signing up to the register. Seeing that grassroots support from the rugby community, and knowing that the message was reaching millions of young men who may never otherwise have thought about joining a bone marrow donor register, was a huge comfort.
Mike Phillips
Hollie's legacy
Hollie found her match and her bone marrow donation took place in July 2014. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and Hollie died in her parents’ loving arms on 6th November, due to complications.
Thanks to Hollie’s amazing stem cell donor and Anthony Nolan, Hollie had a chance. Surely everyone in this position deserves a chance?
Ever since, we’ve vowed to raise awareness and funds for Anthony Nolan – and the rugby community has never stopped supporting us. From Wales right through to New Zealand, rugby teams all over the world have kindly donated signed shirts, match tickets and boots to auction for Anthony Nolan, and so far we’ve raised more than £82,000 towards their incredible work.
Scottish rugby stars
Sam, Hollie’s brother, who is now 6 years old, is a huge rugby fan and is really excited about the World Cup. He joined his first rugby team last week which made his parents, Steve and Laura, really proud. As always, we’ll all be glued to the TV throughout, championing Wales all the way of course!
Hollie's little brother Sam supporting our #IGiveASpit campaign
But it will be different this time around. This year, and in particular in tomorrow’s match against England, I’ll be looking at the players with new eyes – nearly all of the players on that pitch have supported our family at some point over the past year or so, and given hope to other families facing the same thing.
They were Hollie’s heroes. The fact that so many international players got on board to help a little girl in Wales speaks volumes about the rugby community.
And with the World Cup approaching, it’s also a reminder that, as a bone marrow donor, you could be helping anyone in the world, because the world’s registers are all interconnected. A donor in the UK could end up saving the life of someone on the other side of the world, or a stranger thousands of miles away could end up donating to a patient in Wales.
There are no borders in the world of bone marrow donation – or, when a little girl in Cardiff needed help, in the world of rugby.
How you can help
To donate to the HelpHollie appeal, go to www.helphollie.com
If you are 16–30 you can join the Anthony Nolan register at www.anthonynolan.org/register
Danny Cipriani