Selfless Ray Noble may never meet the stranger whose life he saved.

The 29-year-old registered as a stem cell and bone marrow donor four years ago after a young girl his wife knew was diagnosed with cancer.

If that was my little girl Id want someone to be there for her, he said.

Ive been a blood donor for a while, so I thought why not sign up to the stem cell register as well.

And last year dad-of-one Ray, from Wallsend, made a life-saving donation after being told he was a match for an unknown patient in urgent need of a transplant.

Now blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan have urged more people to follow Rays example after a survey revealed that 50% of young men from the North East could not be encouraged to sign up to a blood stem cell or bone marrow register for any reason.

Every year there are 2,000 people in the UK in need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. This is usually their last chance of survival.

For Ray, the path to becoming a blood cancer patients last hope started when a relative of his wifes friend was diagnosed with the disease.

The process was pretty simple, he said.

I followed the instructions on the Anthony Nolan website about how to sign up.

Within a week or two they sent me a spit test, where I basically had to spit into a tube and send it off so it could be analysed.

I then got a card a few weeks later saying I was on the register.

Since signing up, Ray has been identified as a potential match for two patients.

About two years ago Anthony Nolan got in touch to say that I was a potential match for someone and I had to go and give some samples.

On that one they managed to find a closer match - I was eight out of 10 and they found a 10 out of 10, which was obviously better for the patient.

Then around Christmas last year they confirmed that I was a match for someone.

After undergoing several health checks and injections to stimulate the stem cells in his blood, Ray travelled down to Sheffield in April last year to make the donation.

All in all it took about four or five hours, he said. Id been aching a bit before the procedure because of the injections but afterwards I felt totally fine.

Ray, who is dad to two-year-old Ariana, has since convinced several friends and relatives to sign up.

For me its a question of, why not?, he said.

Its not that likely that youre ever going to be asked to donate - its just a case of being on there for someone if they need it.

I always ask people: How would you feel if it was your child or parent or cousin, if they needed a donor and you werent a match - would you want someone to step up and help them?

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK finds out they have a blood cancer.

Around 2,000 people in the UK in need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant every year. This is usually their last chance of survival.

75% of UK patients wont find a matching donor in their families. So they turn to Anthony Nolan to find them an unrelated donor.

Healthy adults aged between 16 and 30 can sign up for a simple, pain-free test through the Anthony Nolan Trust.

The charity particularly need more young men to sign up. They produce more stem cells than women and are six times more likely to donate, but make up just 15% of the register. They also need more donors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds as they often struggle to find matches for people in these groups.

Check the list of criteria to make sure youre eligible to join and fill in an application form, either online or at an Anthony Nolan recruitment event.

If you come to a recruitment event and your application is OK, you can give your saliva sample there. If you apply online, youll be sent spit kit in the post. All you need to do is spit into a small tube and post it back.

The sample will be tested and the results put in the charitys database. Every time someone needs a transplant, theyll automatically compare their tissue to yours and the 620,000 other individuals on the register.

You can donate your stem cells in two ways.

Nearly 90% of people donate their stem cells quickly and easily in a process similar to giving blood, called peripheral blood stem cell collection.

The other 10% donate through bone marrow, where they give cells from the bone marrow in their pelvis.

If youre on the register, you must be happy to donate stem cells in either way.

Link:
'If that was my little girl I'd want someone to step up': Stem cell donor on lifesaving transplant - ChronicleLive