Catherine McKinnell MP, has joined forces with charity Anthony Nolan to search for more local heroes in Newcastle North to join their bone marrow register in the fight against blood cancer. 

This search is underway as the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register has been mapped across the UK by local area for the first time.

Anthony Nolan has just revealed that there are 843 people in the Newcastle North constituency willing to donate their stem cells, or bone marrow, to save the life of a stranger. More than 525,000 people are currently on the Anthony Nolan register, with the average number per constituency being 796.

Anthony Nolan, now in its 40^th anniversary year, was the world’s first bone marrow register. The blood cancer charity has been saving lives for four decades by matching remarkable people willing to donate their bone marrow to patients in desperate need of a transplant. Two thirds of UK patients will not find a matching donor from within their families; instead they turn to Anthony Nolan to find them an unrelated donor. But the charity can currently only find a match for around half of those who to come to them in desperate need, and they still urgently need more people to come forward.

Catherine, who recently visited the Children’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Newcastle’s RVI, said:

‘There are currently almost 850 people in Newcastle North, willing to donate their stem cells or bone marrow to save the life of a stranger, but the challenge continues.

‘It is truly heroic to give a stranger a second chance at life and I would strongly urge my constituents to consider signing up to the register too.’

To join the Anthony Nolan register, people must be aged 16-30 and in good health. It involves filling out a simple online form and spitting into a tube – and people can find out more via www.anthonynolan.org/superhero