18 St John Street’s Front of House Beth Jefferson, is running the 2022 London Marathon this Sunday in aid of Anthony Nolan.
Beth shares her experience so far: ‘ I cannot believe it is finally the week of the London Marathon! Ever since I found out I was running for Anthony Nolan back in November 2021 time has passed by so quickly. I properly started training around March running 3 times a week. I knew there would be a lot of training involved, but I didn’t think there would be this much. I have ran 3 Half Marathons over the summer as well! I only started running in Lockdown due to boredom, so the fact I am running a marathon I am super proud of myself’
‘Anthony Nolan is a fantastic Charity and very close to my heart as my brother had Leukaemia in 2002 and is still alive today thanks to a successful bone marrow transplant from a complete stranger. I am so close to my target of £2000, anything over that is a lovely bonus. I held a cake sale in Chambers in July and received a lot of generous donations’.
Anthony Nolan is the charity that makes lifesaving connections between patients in need and incredible strangers ready to donate their stem cells. Ever since Shirley Nolan founded the charity in 1974, Anthony’s legacy has given hope and a second chance of life to thousands of blood cancer and blood disorder patients. For someone with blood cancer or a blood disorder, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their last chance of survival.
1971 – Anthony Nolan is born with a rare blood disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. The only cure is a bone marrow transplant. None of his family were a match, so the search for an unrelated matching donor begins.
1974 – The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register is established: the first of its kind. Today, it’s helped 22,000 people receive a lifesaving transplant. Before this, finding an unrelated stem cell donor was virtually impossible.
Sadly, no match for Anthony could be found. He died aged seven, in 1979.
2020 – The 800,00th person joins the stem cell register, taking Shirley’s vision to new heights. Bring on the million!
For those who would like to make a donation, please visit Beth’s ‘JustGiving’ donation page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bethjeff
Link to Anthony Nolan website: https://www.anthonynolan.org/
For more information on the 18 St John Street’s Charitable Causes please contact Chambers Director James Parks on jparks@18.sjs.com or 0161 278 1800.