KIRKLEES Council is backing the Examiner’s campaign to get more people to sign up as bone marrow donors.
The council has provided rooms at Huddersfield Town Hall free of charge for the Examiner to hold a second donor recruitment clinic on Tuesday, July 8.
A clinic has already been organised for Wednesday, June 18, at Huddersfield Methodist Mission on Lord Street.
People who want to sign up as bone marrow donors can drop in at the clinics between 2pm and 7pm.
They will be asked to complete a form and will talk with an adviser from the Anthony Nolan Trust, the charity which operates one of the UK’s two bone marrow donor registers.
A small sample of blood will then be taken to be sent off for tissue typing.
The Examiner campaign is being fronted by journalist Adrian Sudbury. Adrian, 26, has fought leukaemia for 18 months and underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Sadly the treatment failed and he has been told he has just weeks or months left to live.
Adrian has made it his ‘last mission’ to raise awareness about the need for more donors.
He is also pushing for the Government to change education policy, to ensure that all sixth-form students are educated about bone marrow donation as standard.
He has already secured support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Health Secretary and Alan Johnson and Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.
A petition supporting the policy change on the Downing Street website has gathered well over 2,000 signatures.
You can show your support and sign by visiting http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bone-marrow
Adrian said the support for his cause had been fantastic.
He added: “Support from the people of Huddersfield and, in fact, all over the world has been incredible. Everyone really seems to be behind our campaign.
“I am really grateful for all the comments and goodwill that have been shown by everyone.”
For more information visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk or call the 24-hour donor hotline on 0901 8822234 (calls charged at 25p per minute).
