Stuart Gardner: A great honour to hopefully play a role in extending someone’s life

Stuart Gardner, Policy and External Affairs Senior Manager at Royal London, shared on LinkedIn:

“t has been a significant week in British politics but my focus has been elsewhere. Two years ago I joined the bone marrow register following a social media appeal put out by Steve Parish related to his friend’s son who had cancer and needed a transplant. 18 months later I received a call out of the blue to say my stem cells had been matched with someone in Sweden.

What followed was 6 months of health and blood tests to make sure I was healthy and my stem cells were the closest possible match. This week has been spent taking injections to prepare my body for the donation and then two 4/5 hour sessions where my blood was filtered to extract the plasma and bone marrow needed. My stem cells should now be en route to Sweden where they will hopefully make a difference to the recipient.

I was brilliantly looked after by NHS Blood and Transplant and the medical team at The London Clinic. Thank you to Royal London for being very supportive throughout and Steven Hill (who I abandoned for the King’s Speech).

It has been a great honour for me personally to hopefully play a role in extending someone’s life and it could well be the most consequential thing I ever do. The process is all anonymous so I’ll most likely not find out whether the transplant was successful or not.

Please do consider joining the bone marrow register if it’s not something you’ve previously considered. I joined via DKMS UK. It’s no small commitment so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries. The whole process has really helped me put back into context what is actually important in life.”

Source: Stuart Gardner/LinkedIn