George helps boost donor register

Monday 11th June 2012

More than 100 people have signed up to become stem cell donors thanks to a teenager with a life-threatening blood disorder.

Chichester College, in West Sussex, hosted an event which saw 111 students and staff sign up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register last week following an appeal from former student George Bennett.

During the event people donated a saliva sample to join the charity's register, which contains 44,000 potential donors for people with blood cancers.

George, from Littlehampton, near Chichester, has been working with the charity since being diagnosed with aplastic anaemia in December.

Since his diagnosis before Christmas the teenager has been forced to put his life on hold while he looks for a stem cell donor to help treat his condition.

He said: "It's been difficult as I left college and I've had to stop work and playing football which have all been hard to take. You have to stop doing all the things you enjoy and the boredom has been one of the toughest things to deal with. Fortunately my family and friends have been really supportive throughout."

"(The event) has been really good and I've seen lots of friends who were willing to donate but also plenty of people I didn't know which is really heart-warming.

"We wanted to raise the awareness and I'm really grateful to everyone who came along. Hopefully a few of them might be a match to someone out there."

To join the register visit http://www.anthonynolan.org and click the Join The Register link.

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