Something a little different

Larking Gowen has a Volunteer day Scheme and our people are encouraged to use that day to volunteer for a cause that’s close to their hearts. Manager, Sarah Caley, decided to use her day for something a little different.

Nine years ago, Sarah signed up to the bone marrow/stem cell donor register with Anthony Nolan, a charity dedicated to fighting blood cancer. In May of last year, she received a call stating that she was a match for someone and was asked if she would still be interested in donating her stem cells.

“Of course, I said yes" said Sarah. “For me it was an easy answer. Reading into stem cell donation, I found out that it’s often the recipient’s last chance in life.”

Doctors normally look to find a match after other treatments, such as chemotherapy, haven’t worked. Sarah was told that it might not work with the best case scenario being the transplant would be a success and the cancer would go away never to return. The next best outcome would be that it give someone time. With the worst case scenario, that it had given someone hope.

The journey that the recipient would have already been through was enough to convince Sarah to go through with it without hesitation.

“It took nine years for me to be a match for someone. I would guess that the recipient did not have nine years to find someone else if I said no.” She said.

“So, I got the call in May last year. A few weeks later I went down to a private hospital in London for some blood tests and an MOT to make sure I was a suitable donor. And a few weeks after that I was ready to donate! The charity paid for all my expenses the whole way through.”

Everything went well. Sarah had blood taken out of one arm, in a way that is very similar to blood donation. The blood was put through a cell separator machine, and then the blood, minus the stem cells, was put back in the other arm. Sarah was hooked up to the machine for five hours in total then she was free to go home that night.

“It took me the rest of the week to feel back to normal but I thought seven days of discomfort was okay in the grand scheme of things,” said Sarah.

“I would definitely do it again!” she said, “Plus, I got a t-shirt AND a badge!”

Sarah would like to make her donation even more worthwhile by convincing at least one other person to sign up with Anthony Nolan. They’re currently looking for willing donors aged 18-30 to sign up.