What exactly is Anthony Nolan, you might ask. Well if you don’t know of it, Anthony Nolan is a charity that matches blood stem cells or bone marrow with those suffering from blood cancer and in need of a transplant. This isn’t a simple task, and many blood cancer patients have to wait for weeks or months until their blood match is found.

What many people also don’t know is how easy and quick it is to potentially save a life. After filling out a form on the Anthony Nolan website, you will be sent a swab kit. This will take no longer than five minutes to complete. After sending the completed kit back to Anthony Nolan, you are now on the register, and willing to donate blood if a patient has the same blood type as yourself.

I have seen first hand how incredible donating blood can be, when in 2012 my father was treated for bone marrow cancer. A match through Anthony Nolan was swiftly found and successful treatment ensued. We never met the donator, but we knew he was 27 at the time, and from the UK. Of course you do have the option to meet them after two years, although we decided against it.

This isn’t an advert for Anthony Nolan, it is simply awareness. Very few young people donate, with those aged 16-30 making up just 16% of the register, but 55% of the donations. Anthony Nolan urgently needs younger donors to improve the chance of blood cancer patients’ treatment being successful and long lasting.

With it being so simple, I only urge you to consider the impact you could make, saving a life, by being on the Anthony Nolan register.