21 Digital’s Chosen Charity: Raising Funds; Saving Lives
The sun is shining and we’ve got the feel-good factor here at 21 Digital this spring: we’re pleased to announce that we’ve chosen Anthony Nolan as our company charity!
Why Anthony Nolan?
Anthony Nolan has a special place in the heart of everyone at 21 Digital. Towards the end of 2012, our Marketing Director, Sam Fletcher’s five-year-old son, Charlie, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease Fanconi Anemia which had caused complete bone marrow failure.
Charlie’s only hope was a bone marrow transplant, however finding a match for him proved difficult.
Thankfully, Charlie received a life-saving batch of stem cells from a unrelated blood cord in June 2013 and has been doing well ever since, returning to school in February of this year.
Working to beat blood cancer
Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukaemia. Like Charlie, many of these people desperately need a bone marrow transplant to have any hope of surviving.
Anthony Nolan is one of just three bone marrow registers in the UK. The charity works to raise awareness of blood cancers and disorders like leukaemia, and to find matches for those in desperate need of bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants.
Despite the charity’s tireless campaigning, they are currently only able to find a matching donor for half of the patients in need of a transplant – so they need our help.
Increasing the chances of survival through unrelated donors
When a bone marrow transplant is needed, the best chance of a match usually occurs if the patient has a sibling. In Charlie’s case – like so many others – no match can be found within the family, which is why the bone marrow register is so vitally important.
Charlie was lucky enough to be one of the 50% of patients who find an unrelated donor in time.
Anthony Nolan desperately needs more people between the ages of 16 and 30 to join the bone marrow register and give more patients diagnosed with blood cancers a chance of survival.
The charity is also calling on mums-to-be to consider donating blood from their umbilical cord, which is rich in stem cells and can speed up the availability of donor blood cells to those in urgent need.
What can you do to help Anthony Nolan?
Helping Anthony Nolan to save more lives is easier than you might think
Here at 21 Digital Digital Marketing Agency, we’ll be doing our best to raise both funds and awareness for Anthony Nolan. We’re really hoping our clients and friends will support us with donations at our Just Giving page, and help spread the word about the amazing work the charity does.
Raising awareness is simple: just give us a shout-out when you see our fundraising efforts, and remember to tell your family, friends and colleagues about joining the bone marrow register.
Last but not least, keep tabs on our Twitter feed and blog for all the latest on our charity efforts. Thank you for helping 21 Digital save lives.
