HAMPSHIRE students have signed up more than 150 volunteers to a society to help save lives through stem cell donation.

Members of the University of Winchester’s ‘Marrow’ society have recruited 163 students to the Anthony Nolan stem cell register since October.

Anthony Nolan is a blood cancer charity which uses its register to match potential stem cell donors to blood cancer patients in need of stem cell transplant.

Winchester is the latest university to set up a ‘Marrow’ society, the name given to Anthony Nolan’s network of student volunteer groups.

More than 60 universities have set up their own ‘Marrow’ society since 1997.

Since their launch in October, Winchester Marrow has also raised £735 for the charity through events on campus.

The group was established by student Katy Jones, after Anthony Nolan found a lifesaving donor from the register for her friend who was diagnosed with leukaemia last year.

The group has grown to around 30 volunteers and is run by a dedicated committee of six students.

They have hosted five donor recruitment days, including at Peter Symonds College where 56 sixth formers became potential lifesavers.

Katy Jones, Winchester Marrow president, said: “We want as many students as possible to join the Anthony Nolan register, as any person could one day save someone’s life. It’s such an important cause and the more people who know about the lifesaving work Anthony Nolan does, the more lives we can save.”

Since 1997, Marrow groups have recruited over 100,000 potential donors and over 900 of these people have gone on to donate.

Typically, around one in 1,200 people on the register go on to donate.

Charlotte Cunliffe, Marrow programme lead at Anthony Nolan, said: “It’s hard to put into words just how amazing our Marrow volunteers are – they are responsible for saving the lives of countless people, and they are truly the unsung heroes helping to cure blood cancer and blood disorders. We are so pleased that Winchester Marrow have decided to join the student lifesaving revolution taking place at universities across the UK.”

To find out more and potentially save some lives, visit: www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-life/donate-your-stem-cells.