Chloe aged 14 months with her mother Francesca and her Grandad Graeme. Image courtesy of The Sunderland Echo.
As well as blood, Chloe will require a bone marrow transplant.
Back in 2003, long before Chloe was born, her grandad Graeme became a bone marrow donor after being told he was a match through The Anthony Nolan Trust for a leukemia patient in Australia.
“I had injections of a growth hormone once a day for 5 days prior to the donation. This overloads the bone marrow with stem cells and forces them into the bloodstream. I traveled to London to University College Hospital, where they placed a needle in one arm to take the blood out. It was then spun through a centrifuge to extract the stem cells before the blood was returned through another needle in the other arm. I had to give two donations as it was being flown from Heathrow to Melbourne Australia, where it was transfused 2 days later to a 40 year old woman who has gone on to make a full recovery. Having already been a blood donor for 24 years, donating bone marrow was just as easy!” – Graeme
When donating blood, you will be asked whether or not you want to be on the bone marrow donation list too – why not say yes! Another way to join is by applying for a form and sending a mouth swab.
For more information about The Anthony Nolan Trust and signing up, please click here.
Alternatively, sign up via DKMS here.
If you are outside the UK, visit the World Marrow Donor Association database to find your countries registries!
The Blood Bag Project 