SOAS Marrow is part of Anthony Nolan’s Marrow student network which encompasses over 50 universities across the UK. We spend our time helping to dispel the myths of bone marrow donation and convincing you lovely people to join the register of potential donors at our sign up sessions. Donating bone marrow is not the 'painful operation' that you may think of whenever you hear the words 'bone marrow
donation'. Nowadays 90% of bone marrow donation occurs via a method which is similar to giving blood. Here at university, we give people the chance to join the register of lifesavers by simply registering online to receive a home test kit and provide a saliva sample (for social distancing measures). You're now on the register and will only be asked to donate your bone marrow if your DNA matches that of someone (anywhere in the world) who is suffering from a form of blood cancer, such as leukaemia, myeloma or Hodgkin's lymphoma. Joining the register and being asked to donate bone marrow is a unique opportunity to be able to genuinely save someone's life by curing their blood cancer! So keep an eye out for when our 'sign up sessions' are being held this year. As well as raising awareness and signing people to the register of potential life savers, we are encouraging more people to actively volunteer with us. Volunteering with Marrow is very rewarding and is a great way to meet new people, it also looks great on your C.V. so come along and join us. We also do lots of fundraising for Anthony Nolan, and are just starting out our Marrow journey at SOAS. We are always looking for lovely people to help us bring in funds for Anthony Nolan. If you want more news about either joining the bone marrow register or joining Marrow and helping save lives please email us or leave a message on our wall!