A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Anthony Nolan talk on Friday 24th October. It was our first proper event as a society and if this was anything to go by, the rest of the year will be fantastic!

Zoe from the Anthony Nolan Trust came along on Friday night to talk to the Children's Nursing Society about what it is that they do, and showed us why it is so important that as many people as possible join the register willing to donate their bone marrow.

The talk linked in really well with the Child Nursing Course as it showed us that by donating stem cells, it is not just the child's life that is being saved, but the family's as well. (One of the big things we learn, is that a child cannot be cared for in isolation from the family). We heard that the donation process is much like an extended session of donating blood (painful operations are no longer the main route for bone marrow donation) and the majority of people are never actually a match, but with more people on the register there is more chance that someone needing a match can find one. We saw some moving videos about how thankful patients and families were at hearing they had a donor match, how they successfully received the transplant and how they had gone into remission and become cured.

The exciting news is that we are now able to help play a part of that process. On Monday 3rd November, volunteers from the Children's nursing Society will be holding a Donor Recruitment Event in Michael Ashcroft Foyer from 10am - 4pm helping people to sign up as Bone Marrow Donors and potentially be lifesavers.

Many thanks to Zoe and everyone who came to the talk.