COUNCILLORS put their support behind the Examiner’s campaign to recruit more bone marrow donors.

A clinic was held yesterday at Huddersfield Town Hall by the Examiner and the Anthony Nolan Trust, a charity which keeps one of the UK’s two bone marrow registers.

Clr David Hall, cabinet member for transport and green services, signed up as a donor, as did Dalton ward councillor Rochelle Parchment. They were among 30 new donors yesterday.

To sign up as a donor with the ANT, you need to be aged 18 to 40 and in good health.

Clr Hall, 33, said he was happy to have become a potential lifesaver. He was already aware of the importance of bone marrow transplants, as his aunt underwent the procedure when she was ill with myeloma – a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow.

He said: “My mum was a match and she donated bone marrow, which saved my auntie’s life. When I told my mum about the campaign, she encouraged me to sign up.

“Being a donor would involve a little discomfort, but for a few pricks of a needle, if it saves somebody’s life then you can’t say no to that.”

The campaign to get more donors is being fronted by Examiner journalist Adrian Sudbury, who at 26 is dying from the leukaemia he has battled for 18 months.

Adrian wants to raise awareness about what is involved in donation and is pushing for all 17 and 18-year-olds to be educated as standard about blood, bone marrow and organ donation.

A petition on the Downing Street website calling for better education has got more than 6,800 signatures. You can sign it by visiting http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bone-marrow

Adrian hopes his campaign will help the 16,000 people in the world who are currently waiting for a bone marrow transplant.

He said: “My transplant was provided by a stranger, a 30-year-old woman from Germany. Ultimately, it did not cure me but it gave me an extra year of life. At least I had a chance. At the moment, without a transplant, these 16,000 people don’t. There could be a donor out there for them, but if that person isn’t on the register, they won’t be found.

“That is why it is so important that as many people as possible sign up, especially young males and ethnic minority donors, who are in short supply.

“I’d like to thank everyone who attended the clinic and signed up as potential lifesavers.”

Clr Parchment, 35, said misconceptions had put her off in the past. She and her sister, Bryony Garnett, signed up as donors at the town hall clinic.

She said: “We both hate needles so we were brave together! But actually it was very easy, I hardly felt a thing. I wasn’t fully aware of what was involved before, I thought it would be an ordeal.

“But after I saw Adrian’s campaign I wished I had done it earlier. I was surprised to learn how many people out there are suffering. It is a shame not enough young people are getting signed up, but I think people don’t realise how easy it is.

“Being a donor wouldn’t involve any real pain, certainly nothing as bad as what those people are going through. It would be very worthwhile going through with it. I feel now like I might be making a difference and that’s really important.”

You can find out more on becoming a donor at www.anthonynolan.org.uk

The National Blood Service also run a UK bone marrow register. To join that register, you must be aged 18 to 49 and eligible to give blood. Visit www.blood.co.uk or call 0845 7 711 711.