Steve Lock, who is a member of the West Midlands FRS Technical Rescue Unit, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in April this year. Because of the type of leukaemia Steve has, in addition to chemotherapy he also requires a bone marrow transplant to enable a complete cure from his life threatening illness.

The chances of finding a suitable matching donor are extremely slim due to the vast number of tissue types to try and match, which is why it is important to have as many people as possible registered as potential donors.

In support of Steve and in an effort to help find a matching donor for him and some of the other 16,000 people in the UK in a similar position, a series of bone marrow donor recruitment clinics was held at various fire stations across the West Midlands area. These were extremely successful and resulted in over 300 people registering onto the Anthony Nolan Trust bone marrow donor register.

Although these clinics have now finished, we would like to urge as many people as possible across the UKFRS aged between 18 – 40, to register as bone marrow donors. There are several ways this can be done. One way is to attend a local clinic being held in your area. The process is simple and takes around 15 minutes. Otherwise, you can contact the Anthony Nolan Trust via their website www.anthonynolan.org.uk or by ringing 020 7284 1234. They will then send you a testing kit which you can take to your GP to have the blood test taken. The process undertaken as a bone marrow donor has advanced significantly over the years and it is now very easy to register and to donate.

To see the feature regarding Steve on the Anthony Nolan Trust website, please follow this link www.anthonynolan.org.uk/stevelock . Whilst on the website details of all current clinics can be found, along with details of how you can join the register and the various methods of donating if you are found to be a match for someone in need.

For those who would like to register as a donor but are over the age of 40, the National Blood Service also holds a bone marrow register (to which the Anthony Nolan Trust have access) and will accept applicants up to and including the age of 49.West Midlands Fire Service has teamed up with The Anthony Nolan Trust to run a number of donor recruitment clinics to offer staff and members of the public the chance to become lifesavers by joining the Bone Marrow Register.