Callum O’Connor (32) is calling on male Islanders aged between 16 and 30 to register with the Anthony Nolan charity, an organisation which matches those willing to donate their stem cells or bone marrow to people with blood cancer, who desperately need lifesaving or life-lengthening transplants.
Currently, only 16 per cent of men aged between 16 and 30 are on the register.
‘I wanted to register because a friend of mine had given a donation and secondly because I am a fit and healthy young male and I have the opportunity to potentially save someone’s life,’ Mr O’Connor, who registered with the charity when he was 24, said.
‘I got a phone call to say I had been approved and then at that point I went on to the website and watched a five minute video to find out more. Even my parents thought you needed to go under general anaesthetic and have surgery, but that isn’t the case at all.’
The period between Mr O’Connor being approached for his donation and giving his stem cells was five months. During that time he visited the UK for various tests and medical professionals came to Jersey to give the Islander injections and check his health. The charity paid for all his flights and accommodation.
On his last visit to the London Cancer Clinic he undertook a five-hour peripheral blood stem cell collection.
The process involved a tube being inserted in each of his arms to draw out blood. The blood is then passed through a machine to harvest the stem cells, which are saved before the blood is transferred back via the donor’s opposite arm.
Mr O’Connor said: ‘I flew over on the Sunday and on Monday morning I was connected to the machine.
‘You just sit there for five hours while it happens. It’s painless, but it just feels a bit strange because you can feel the blood going into your arm. I was home by 7 pm that night.
‘Within 72 hours the patient is given the stem cell donation.’
Mr O’Connor is not allowed any contact with the patient for the next two years – the only thing he knows about the person who was given his stem cells is that they are a male and weigh roughly the same as him.
‘I’m desperate to know if the man is okay. It takes six months to know how he has reacted [to the treatment],’ he said.
In the UK someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every 20 minutes and 75 per cent of those people never find a donor.
Mr O’Connor said: ‘The charity is so desperate for males aged between 16 to 30. It’s as simple as putting your details on the site and then you get sent a swab kit.’
To find out more visit anthonynolan.org.
