The DKMS Ambassador for DKMS (We Delete Blood Cancer) and a dedicated team of volunteers recently held the first of two registration days giving students and staff aged 18-55 the opportunity to join the blood stem cell register.

On Wednesday 19 October, A record breaking number of people registered at Sutton Bonington campus, the largest number ever at a university registration event for DKMS, with 15% of the campus population joining the register.

Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Around 2,000 people in the UK are searching for a blood stem cell donor each year and over 37,000 people worldwide. For anyone who isn’t aware, for many people with a type of blood cancer or blood disorder often their only lifesaving treatment is to have a blood stem cell donation from a matching donor. DKMS has a mission to increase the pool of available blood stem cell donors. This could potentially save the lives of those who are looking for a matching donor.

Veronika, PhD student said “I had not heard about DKMS until my friend and Student Ambassador Emma asked me if I wanted to volunteer and help increase the number of people on the blood stem cell donor register, here in Nottingham. As I learned more about DKMS I realised how important (and simple!) it is to become an on-standby life saver. I now want to increase awareness about DKMS and how every single registration could save someone’s life.”

Emma, PhD student and DKMS Student Ambassador commented “If you have a loved one, you should join the register, because unlike many cancers, we already know the cure: it could be you. I think this is amazing! I have been on standby save a life since Aug 2015. Becoming a Student Ambassador for DKMS was a very easy decision, and I am very excited to increase awareness and the number of people on the blood stem cell donor register. Let’s delete blood cancer!”

DKMS (We Delete Blood Cancer) is bringing 300 swab kits to allow people to join the register. Can we beat our own record by registering 300 people on University Park on the 25th October?

You can also register online on the DKMS website.