May 2013

The know zone

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The perfect match

Register & Be A Lifesaver (R&Be) is an education programme run by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, in conjunction with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

How does the education programme work?
R&Be sends volunteers into schools and colleges to deliver inspiring presentations to 16 to 18 year-olds about bone marrow, blood and organ donation. The aim is to arm young people with the facts to allow them to make an informed choice about whether to register as donors.

How is the programme delivered?
Trained volunteers deliver a 30-50 minute presentation to sixth form and college groups – either in assemblies to whole year groups or in tutorial sessions.

It features facts about the three types of donation, explaining why they are needed, what’s involved and how to sign up. The volunteers aim to make the talks as interactive as possible and draw on their own personal stories to bring the information to life for their audience.

Following the presentation, students can fill in an application form to become blood and organ donors and they can register their interest in being contacted by Anthony Nolan with information about how to sign up online as a bone marrow donor. R&Be also sometimes runs recruitment events, where students can register in person.

Volunteers currently visit sixth forms and colleges in five regions of the UK – London, Merseyside, Bristol, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

How did the programme come about?
R&Be was founded as the result of a dedicated campaign by Adrian Sudbury, a young journalist with leukaemia. Adrian’s father, Keith Sudbury, says that his son believed that better education could dispel myths around donation and would increase the number of young people who felt able to register as donors.

Adrian died in August 2008. Shortly afterwards the first R&Be volunteers were trained and the programme began its pilot phase. Since then, R&Be has reached more than 80,000 young people with its message.

Keith, who is a mentor for R&Be volunteers in the Midlands and Bristol, said, “Adrian’s wish is beautiful in its simplicity. He wanted every 16 to 18 year-old in the country to be taught the facts about blood, stem cell and organ donation so they are then in a position to make informed choices.”

What has the response been so far?
Since R&Be began, it has recruited more than 3,300 young people to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow donor register. More than 5,000 have registered to give blood and more than 1,400 have signed up as organ donors.

Keith says, “Often students have never heard of the three types of donation before, but after an R&Be presentation, they know the facts and are hugely inspired to help save a life.

“This is a testament not just to R&Be but to the maturity and altruism shown by many young people. The more young people who join the register, the more chances there are of finding a suitable match and the more lives that can be saved.”

Find out more

For more details see www.anthonynolan.org/registerandbe call 0207 284 8213 or email dernel.polydore@anthonynolan.org

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