Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Incredibly selfless’ Dundee student donates life-saving stem cells during pandemic

Post Thumbnail

A selfless student made a 650-mile round trip alone to donate life-saving stem cells to a stranger.

Francis Allison made the journey during lockdown after waiting three years to donate to blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

Last month the 20-year-old was matched with someone in urgent need of a transplant and travelled to Sheffield at the peak of the pandemic, as life-saving procedures continue.

The Dundee University bio medical sciences student said: “I was so excited to find out I was a match for a patient with blood cancer.

“I’ve spent quite a few years signing people up to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register as a marrow volunteer at university, so I know a lot about the process and have heard many a success story.

“To actually have the opportunity to experience this myself, it felt like the next step on the life-saving journey.

“When you know that you are potentially this person’s last and best chance at life, you cannot just sit on your hands and do nothing.

“It felt more like an honour.”

Donating cells involves having blood is drawn out of one arm and fed into a cell-separating machine where stem cells are filtered out. The red blood cells are then put back into the blood stream through a second needle. The process takes around four or five hours.

Donors can usually take someone with them for support but due to lockdown restrictions Francis had to travel alone, wearing a face mask sent to him by Anthony Nolan.

“There were some travel disruptions that needed solving but the work that Anthony Nolan are doing is extremely essential,” Francis added.

“There are patients out there whose condition is the same and this hasn’t changed that.

“I don’t think you really appreciate the gravity of the gift you’re giving the person until you’re lying in the bed connected to the machine, that is when it really sunk in.

“I thought about my recipient when I was donating. What they may be doing or thinking right at that moment in time. I looked at the stem cell bag and thought it is theirs now. I truly hope it’s everything they need to live a happy and normal life.”

There are 800,000 people on the Anthony Nolan register. The charity recruits people aged 16-30 as research has shown younger people are more likely to be chosen to donate.

Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan, said: “These are extraordinary times. “Francis has done an extraordinary and incredibly selfless thing by giving someone with blood cancer or a blood disorder their best chance at survival.

“Transplants continue to happen around the world meaning we still need people to join the UK stem cell register.

“Every person who joins the Antony Nolan register, like Francis has the potential to help save someone in desperate need of a lifesaving stem cell transplant.”