Saturday, 21 September is World Marrow Donor Day and an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of donating bone marrow and to encourage 16–30-year-olds to sign up to the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry in support of a campaign to sign up 4,000 new donors by March 31, 2025.

Every year, 50,000 patients across the globe require a bone marrow transplant to treat certain blood cancers and disorders (2,000 of those come from the UK).

Sadly, three in every ten of those patients will never find a suitable donor and the odd are seven in ten if you come from a black, Asian, or ethnic minority background.

The campaign wants to improve those odds and needs the helkp of local residents help to help reach out to communities across Wales to help raise awareness and ultimately encourage more people to join its panel.

Supporting the campaign is bone marrow recipient Alison Belcham who received a lifesaving transplant from a complete stranger, Rachel Rees.

Both Alison and Rachel are from Wales which is incredibly rare as matches are usually found via the international database.

Alison and Rachel recently spent some time filming their story.

Below are links to the videos

English - 

Welsh - 

The transplant Alison received used Rachel's healthy donor stem cells to replace her own cancer-causing cells. Since then, Alison has been cancer-free.

 Rachel said, "I am so proud of her, proud of her recovery, proud of her tenacity and I am just so thankful that she reached out to meet me.

"I am so glad to see Alison happy and healthy; having our families meet has been so, so special.''

Head of the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry, Christopher Harvey, said: "Blood cancer patients around the world face a daily, and increasingly urgent, search for a suitable stem cell match. The requirements for matching a patient with a donor are very specific, but the opportunity to find a life-saving match increases as more volunteers sign up.

"If you're 16-30 from a Caucasian background or 16-45 from a black, Asian, mixed race or minority ethnic background, you could be the one person in the world who could be the match – and that's why we are urging more people to sign up to our Registry and help people like Alison in their greatest time of need.

"It's never been easier to join. Whether you're eligible, or know someone who might be, please talk about this life-changing Registry and help give more patients a chance to overcome their illness."

There are two ways to join the Welsh Blood Service's bone marrow registry, by requesting a swab kit online delivered to your home or whilst giving blood. To support or sign up, visit www.welshblood.org.uk.