Above: Anne, 68, lives in Camberwell, South London
After losing weight unexpectedly during the pandemic, Anne went for a check-up at the doctors where she received the life-changing news that the polycythaemia she’d been diagnosed with 11 years ago had progressed to myelofibrosis.
Earlier this year her medical team informed her she would need a stem cell transplant. Her search for a stem cell donor began five months ago - so far a matching donor has not been found.
#StandWithAnne
If you’re aged 16-30 you can give Anne, and others like her, hope for a second chance of life by joining the stem cell register.
Anne is retired now, but worked as a piano teacher for many years and grew up in the Valleys in South Wales. She is a musician, a political activist and a force of nature…she describes herself as “not your average 68 year old”! She and her husband moved to London 12 years ago to care for their grandson full time.
People don’t realise how simple it is to potentially save somebody’s life without making a huge effort. People just don’t know about the stem cell register, so I want to do as much as I can to raise awareness and to help others like me.
Anne
Anne is appealing to people across the UK to register with Anthony Nolan and potentially offer a chance to someone like her. Anne is passionate about sharing the importance of the stem cell register and is keen to improve the chances for other people round the world with blood cancers and disorders.
Please donate today and help us make sure we can be there for patients like Anne.
Make a donation
£15 goes a long way to helping our scientists conduct ground-breaking research that will save lives over the next 50 years.
£40 could sign up a new lifesaving stem cell donor who could go on to save a life like Anne's.
£90 could pay for three hours of invaluable support from a post-transplant nurse for patients and families.
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 like Anne 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!