Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as Leukaemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma.

DKMS is an international nonprofit organisation dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders by: creating awareness; recruiting bone marrow donors to provide a second chance at life; raising funds to match donor registration costs; supporting the improvement of therapies through research; and supporting patients from day one of their diagnoses.

DVS 2018 Campaign!

You may have heard of #IansArmy over the past couple of months. Ian is a father of three from Essex, diagnosed with Leukaemia and is fighting for his life and those of so many others battling cancer. We are helping to spread the word all over the internet and through local media to help find a donor.

Celebrities from the world of TV, film, sport and reality stars have supported the #IansArmy campaign to find a blood stem cell donor for Ian Witham and other people in his situation.

https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/stars-back-christmas-plea-find-blood-stem-cell-donor

Ian’s condition is particularly rare with only about 650 people diagnosed with the condition each year in the UK.

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia. It is the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK. However, less than half of the UK population are aware of blood cancer issues and 83% don’t know that a simple cheek swab is all it takes to register as a potential blood stem cell donor.

A blood stem cell donation from a genetically similar person can often be the best hope of survival for people fighting a blood cancer or a blood disorder. Ian’s sisters have both been tested but were not a match, so he is relying on finding a match from an unrelated donor.

How you can help?

If you are aged 17-55 years old and in good general health you can register for your home swab kit.

If you’ve already registered but haven’t returned your swabs please remember to post them back. Otherwise they won’t be to analyse your tissue type and add you to the stem cell registry.

Please support us in registering more potential lifesavers. You can donate £10 by texting IANSARMY to 70191 or make an online donation.

In the upcoming months DVS will be hosting a number of charity and recruitment days to try and find a match for Ian and so many others in the same situation.

How to become a blood stem cell donor?

Watch this short video to see what it means to be a potential blood stem cell donor. A three-minute cheek swab will put you on standby to save a life. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyB686Gnbbg

Register now, here

Donate Money to our Just Giving page, here