Volunteers are at the heart of Marrow’s work. Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to save the lives of people with blood cancer and blood disorders.

Our story began in 1974. When Shirley Nolan’s three-year-old son, Anthony, was in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, Shirley set up the world’s first register to match volunteer donors to people in desperate need of a transplant. Throughout her life, Shirley campaigned and fundraised tirelessly to grow the register. Sadly, a match wasn’t found for Anthony and he died in 1979, aged eight. Today, Shirley’s ambition – that no one should die waiting for a transplant – remains at the heart of everything we do.

We recruit people aged 16 to 30 to our stem cell register. Research indicates that young people (young men in particular) are more likely to be chosen as donors, so that’s where we focus our recruitment. Our register now has more than 750,000 potential donors on it, and we have facilitated over 19,000 transplants since 1974. 

Marrow began in 1998 when James Kustow, a student at the University of Nottingham, heard that his childhood friend Karen had been diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a stem cell transplant to survive. Banding together with his friends, James organised a hugely successful recruitment event on campus to try and get more people to join the Anthony Nolan register. James and his fellow volunteers decided to put together a team to run regular events and raise awareness for years to come. They called it Marrow.

Today we have over 50 Marrow groups with hundreds of volunteers in universities across the country, who are all working towards one thing - saving the lives of people with blood cancer. 

Marrow has three important aims that we’re all working towards:
• To raise awareness of Anthony Nolan and blood cancer within universities around the UK. This means spreading the word, holding events and letting students know about our lifesaving work.
• To give every student the opportunity to join our stem cell register. Marrow runs recruitment drives across campus, from halls to the university gym, to make sure students can become potential lifesavers.
• To raise funds to help support Anthony Nolan’s vital work. Marrow holds fantastic fundraising events, including bake sales, bucket shakes, balls and more.