Coronation Street fans have been left reeling as baby Frankie received the devastating diagnosis of aplastic anaemia – a condition we at Anthony Nolan are all too familiar with. As his mum Lauren, played by soap favourite Cait Fitton, deals with the shock news that her baby needs a stem cell transplant to survive, Anthony Nolan’s real life patients are dealing with similar terrifying situations every day.
Our charity matches incredible strangers on our stem cell register to patients desperately in need of transplants and we give four people another chance to live every day.
Your support can help us continue our lifesaving work.
Donate now
A gift of £5 a month helps build a stem cell register that gives everyone the best chance of survival.
A gift of £10 a month helps lifesaving transplants to happen – giving as many people as possible a second chance of life.
A gift of £15 a month could help pay for our umbilical cord collection programme – making little lifesavers of babies only minutes old!
£15 could cover the cost of 8 cheek swab kits and postage to potential donors, in order to add more lifesavers to the stem cell register.
£40 could sign up a new lifesaving stem cell donor who could go on to save a life.
£100 can help fund the groundbreaking research our scientists are doing right now to discover new treatments.
Join the stem cell register
If you are 30 or under, follow the link to sign-up
Over 30? Share with someone who could potentially save a life
How your gift can help someone like Frankie
Your generosity can help us reach and recruit more people to the register, so that more patients have more chances of finding their matching donor when they need them.
It also helps fund our researchers and scientists who are continuously pushing the boundaries and unlocking new ways to treat every patient.
Your gifts also support our patient services, ensuring both patients and their families get the care they need before, during and after transplant.
What is aplastic anaemia?
Aplastic anaemia is a blood disorder that means your bone marrow doesn’t make enough blood cells, including red blood cells that carry oxygen to the rest of your body. This means you develop anaemia, which can cause fatigue, headaches and concentration problems – alongside more serious issues.
You can find out more about aplastic anaemia here, including symptoms, diagnosis and treatments, on The Aplastic Anaemia Trust’s website.
What is a stem cell transplant?
When blood cancer or a blood disorder has damaged your blood stem cells, a stem cell transplant can replace them with new, healthy stem cells from a donor. It’s a bit like getting a blood transfusion – it’s not an operation – and in time the new stem cells will start to make new blood cells. You can find out more about how it works, and who might need one here.
How do you find a donor?
That’s where we come in. Anthony Nolan was launched 50 years ago as the world’s first stem cell donor register. Today we have nearly a million people standing by to save lives, but it is still not always easy to find a donor. For the best outcome from a transplant, doctors need the best possible match between the patient and donor’s tissue type. As there are many billions of varieties we are constantly looking for more people to join the register so more people can find their match when they need to.
Anie’s real life experience of aplastic anaemia
Anie was a typical busy teenager who thought she was getting tired due to her hectic social life. But once she started suffering with bad headaches as well, the 17-year-old knew something was wrong.
She was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia and told she’d need a stem cell transplant, and finding a matching donor was made even more challenging because of her ethnicity. Eventually her transplant went ahead and Anie, now aged 29, shares her experiences to help Anthony Nolan raise awareness of both the condition and the transplant journey.
Join or donate today for the patients of today and tomorrow
If you are 30 or under, follow the link to sign up
Over 30? Help fund a lifesaver
More information and support
If you or someone you know is going through a stem cell transplant and would like more information and support, our Patient Services team are here to help.
Head to our For patients and families section or call our helpline on 0303 303 0303.