'Living on borrowed time'

By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News

Yvette has been waiting for a match for four years

Yvette Gate has been waiting for a bone marrow donor for the last four years and her family know she is living on borrowed time.

She has aplastic anaemia - where the bone marrow fails to produce red cells, platelets and white cells - and doctors have told her family that the only hope is a transplant.

But so far there has been no match and there are too few black and ethnic minority donors on the register.

They hope a new campaign, started by journalist Adrian Sudbury, will help to change this by encouraging teenagers to join the register and donate.

Life-saving campaign

Adrian, who died of leukaemia last year aged 26, spent the last few months of his life campaigning for better education and information for young people on the importance of bone marrow donation.

His passion and his "Baldy Blog" reached the attention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Health Secretary Alan Johnson, both of whom met him.

She is very much living on borrowed time it is a blessing she is still here today David Gate

And now the R&B (Register and Be a Lifesaver) Project, organised by The Anthony Nolan Trust in partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant and backed by the government, is to educate sixth formers about the realities of donating bone marrow, blood and organs.

Two pilot schemes have been launched in South Yorkshire and Bristol, which have enlisted 40 schools.

As well as speaking to the students about donation, a special film will be shown that includes Adrian's campaign, his opinion on donation and features interviews with 17 to 18-year-olds on what they believe bone marrow donation involves and their thoughts on being a lifesaving match.

Inspiring others

Student Jonathan Herbert, aged 17, from South Yorkshire, said he had been so inspired by hearing Adrian's story that he would be signing up within the next few months.

"I am already a blood donor so am interested in giving," he said.

But he admitted the misconceptions about bone marrow donation had always put him off.

Jonathan has been inspired to donate

"You hear all these rumours about getting the bone marrow that are quite off putting," he said.

"But when they came in it opened my eyes to how important it is and how short they are of donors.

"They showed us a presentation about Adrian and how his donation helped extend his life and it really affected me and made me wake-up to the importance of donating."

Kay Sudbury, Adrian's mother, said her son would have been delighted to see the project taking off.

"Many people, even those who are regular blood donors are put off from becoming a bone marrow donor because of the many myths and misconceptions that surround the process," said Kay.

BONE MARROW STATISTICS There are 16,000 children and adults worldwide searching for a bone marrow donor There are 394,000 on the UK bone marrow transplant register You can join the register at age 17-and-a-half with your parents written consent Under 10% of The Anthony Nolan Trust's register are aged 18-25 Young donor are particularly welcomed because they are usually more healthy and potentially have years in which they can be selected

"Registering as a bone marrow donor is not difficult nor is it painful.

"By simply giving a sample of blood you could potentially be a match and save someone's life. That's an amazing thing to be able to do.

"We were extremely fortunate that Adrian's life was prolonged with us by over a year through the kindness of one such donor from Germany who was found to be a match for Adrian.

"When Adrian saw how simple it is to donate bone marrow, he was inspired to make sure that as many young adults as possible are educated about the process so that they can make an informed choice."

Transfusion dependent

David Gate, Yvette's step-father, said he hoped the scheme would inspire young people to consider joining the register and help find matches.

"Yvette became ill five years ago after a year of unsuccessful treatments they decided the only option was a bone marrow transplant," he said.

Adrian spent his last few months campaigning for better bone marrow understanding

"She is very much living on borrowed time - it is a blessing she is still here today.

"She is completely transfusion dependent and is being kept alive by blood donations."

A person can join the bone marrow register at 17-and-a-half with written parental consent, but they will not be asked to actually donate until they are 18.

Pauline Makoni, operations manager for the Anthony Nolan Trust, said young, healthy donors are always needed.