PETERSFIELD residents could save the life of a Liss teenager – and hundreds of other cancer patients – by sparing five minutes at the town’s rugby club next week.
Everyone who signs up to the Anthony Nolan Donor Register next Thursday, July 11, will be a hero, according to Guy and Jane Dawes.
Their lives were turned upside down last year when their rugby and football-loving son Peter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia a week before his A-level exams at Godalming College.
The former Bohunt student’s best chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant so Stuart Barden and his colleagues at Petersfield RFC have agreed to host a “recruitment” event to get more people on the register.
“It’s an extraordinary situation to find ourselves in and it’s very, very sad, but there is hope,” said Peter’s father.
“This recruitment day isn’t about Peter, but the number of bone marrow donors and the Anthony Nolan Trust.
“Peter is the core reason but the headline should be around registration.”
He added: “Hopefully we’ll find a suitable candidate and we would be absolutely over the moon if someone who signed up at the rugby club was a match.
“But everyone who does will be a hero because they’re putting themselves forward to save someone’s life.”
All potential donors have to do is complete a form and get their cheek swabbed, with the drive taking place from 6pm to 9pm at the Penns Place clubhouse.
More than 200 people have agreed, or have expressed an interest, in attending the event, which has been promoted on social media sites through #PledgeForPeter hashtag.
For more details look for Pledge for Peter on www.facebook.com