Awards and Commendations!
Ally Boyle – who won the Anthony Nolan Award for Best Recruiter of the Year – at the event on the 4th November.
Ally was diagnosed with MDS a few years ago – and this has not stopped him from getting on with things. On the contrary!
Ally is a fire fighter by profession in Scotland and has done an amazing work with his colleagues from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue – to recruit stem cell donors for Anthony Nolan.
Here is what he says on his Facebook page:
“Fabulous and inspiring evening at Anthony Nolan Awards and delighted to report that we won! Obviously none of this is about recognition but I am very proud of what has been achieved. From the grimmest news on my diagnosis to the knowledge we are saving lives. The credit belongs to the Core Group Andrew Watt, Ian McMeekin, Paul Devlin, Cathy Barlow, Siobhan Hynes, Hamish Macrae, Mark Conlon and our amazing volunteers. 5,000 recruited so far so here’s to the next 5,000 and beyond!”
And this is from the Anthony Nolan website:
http://www.anthonynolan.org/Hidden/ANSAS.aspx
Wonderful stuff Ally and team! Thank you on behalf of all MDS patients in need of a transplant.
♦
And the next amazing people are Sharon Berger’s children Jonni and Caz, who have been especially commended for BAME Advocate of the Year.
Jonni and Caz have done so much for the recruitment of stem cell donors, after it was decided that their Mum Sharon (who is also our treasurer) needed an urgent bone marrow transplant – see our previous news item on our website).
Through their efforts, they radically changed the number of jewish stem cell donors in the UK – and even further afield.
Here is what Anthony Nolan says about them:
“Earlier this year, Jonni and Caroline launched a campaign to recruit more Jewish donors to Anthony Nolan’s register when they were told that their mother, Sharon, needed a bone marrow transplant. They appealed to the Jewish media and twitter community using the hashtag #Spit4Mum. In the first four months of 2013, over 1,000 Jewish people joined the Anthony Nolan register compared with only 100 during the same period in 2012.
Sharon was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and was told that she needed an urgent bone marrow transplant to survive. Finding a matching donor was more difficult for Sharon because Jewish people are under-represented on the bone marrow donor register and a donor is most likely to be someone with the same ethnic background as the recipient. Sharon had a bone marrow transplant in July and is recovering well.
Caroline says, “I’m very proud to have been nominated and it is humbling that the campaign has been recognised. I think the award should go to my mum who has bravely tackled blood cancer for the past year. I only hope that the campaign helps find matches for other people facing a similar situation. Without the incredible work that Anthony Nolan does, my mum wouldn’t have found the hero who saved her life. There is a Jewish saying that ‘to save one life is as if you have saved the world’. That is what Anthony Nolan means to me.”
Jonni adds, “I am pleased to have been able to increase the number of Jewish donors on the register as well as to have raised awareness about the lack of minority ethnic donors on the stem cell register through our #Spit4Mum campaign. Whilst the initial aim was to help my Mum Sharon, who thankfully had a stem cell transplant recently, there is also the satisfaction that I have significantly increased the number of potential donors on the register for everyone in need of a lifesaving transplant in the future.”
Henny Braund, Chief Executive at Anthony Nolan, says, “Jonni and Caroline’s campaign to recruit more Jewish donors to the register has been a huge success and has had a considerable impact on the number of Jewish donors joining the register. We were all so pleased when we heard that their mother, Sharon, had found a donor for her bone marrow transplant. Raising awareness is key to recruiting more donors and it is down to the hard work of supporters like Jonni and Caroline that we are able to help provide lifesaving transplants for people like Sharon.
Thank you to both of you Jonni and Caz ! Bone marrow failure patients need more people like you to raise the awareness amongst ethnic communities – where there is a desperate need for more donors to come forward! Fantastic work.
