Basingstoke firefighters will be supporting a charity drive in honour of a service member.
Crew Manager John Taylor, from Kingsclere fire station was recently diagnosed with leukaemia and big-hearted colleagues have set up donor recruitment sessions across the county. Working in partnership with The Anthony Nolan Trust, an event will take place at Basingstoke Fire Station on Tuesday, June 22 between 2pm and 8pm.
After the Kingsclere event more than 100 people signed up to the register and hopes are high for next week. Retained firefighter John, who is married with two children, said: “The event in Kingsclere was overwhelming and humbling.
“I want to say thank you to all those who registered and I hope that it will save someone else’s life. I hope that this will help someone else in the future who doesn’t have a match at the moment or who is waiting for a transplant.”
Group Manager Dave Norgate added: “In partnership with The Anthony Nolan Trust we recently held a bone marrow recruitment session at Kingsclere. It was a great success and we are really pleased that as a result of everyone’s efforts a potential 120 new recruits were signed up to the register.
“We are inspired by John and I hope that we can encourage local residents and the wider community to come along to our event in Basingstoke so that we can achieve the maximum amount potential donors possible.”
This Saturday firefighets will be handing out leaflets in The Malls shopping centre, in Basingstoke advertising the forthcoming event.
Kelly Archer, donor recruitment manager for The Anthony Nolan Trust said: “Seventy per cent of patients who need a transplant wont find a matching donor within their families. Please come along to find out more about donating; by joining the register you could save a life.”
