When Rob was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, it became clear that he would require a bone marrow transplant in order to stand any chance of overcoming his illness. His medical team contacted Anthony Nolan, a registered charity that maintains a worldwide register of potential bone marrow donors, but unfortunately no match for Rob could be found. So Rob’s friends at Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club, led by Tim and Nikki Spelling, set about organising their own potential donor drop-in session at the Club to try to find the perfect match.
The Club was overwhelmed by the support for the session, which was held in the summer of 2013. More than three hundred young people attended, all of them anxious to try to help Rob overcome his life-threatening illness. Unfortunately, none of the young people was a match for Rob, who lost his brave fight against the disease later that year.
However, we were thrilled to receive an e-mail recently from James Newton who had attended the same school – Colchester Royal Grammar School – as Rob, and had been in the year above him. James had attended the Anthony Nolan session at the Cricket Club back in 2013. James was writing to let us know that during the previous week he had been called back and invited to donate bone marrow via Anthony Nolan, which will hopefully be used to save the life of another sick young person somewhere in the world. James is the seventh or eighth young person who has been called back to donate as a result of attending the donation session at the Cricket Club all those years ago.
Thanks to James and the other generous donors, several young people are still alive who would otherwise have lost their lives. Thank you, James, and thanks to all the other young people who continue to apply to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register. Joining for those aged between 16 and 30 is easy and free; for further information, please go to https://www.anthonynolan.org/help-save-a-life/join-stem-cell-register.