Selfless Sam

Our work is all about saving and improving lives, and not always by crawling into collapsed buildings or responding to devastating floods.

Our logistics manager Sam is doing it by donating his bone marrow.

When he first donated blood in 2021 he was asked if he would also join the Bone Marrow Registry and give an extra sample of blood from which they could take a genetic marker and he readily agreed.

Sam said: “They kept that genetic marker and when someone needed stem cells they checked their genetic marker against mine for a match.”

A patient in Ohio, USA, turned out to be a match and Sam was asked if he would be prepared to donate life-saving stem cells and, in spite of reports that the operation can be extremely painful, again agreed.

It meant injecting himself in preparation for the transplant and then a trip to the bone marrow clinic and an overnight stay for the full procedure.

Sam, who is the last person to promote himself, gave permission for us to reveal what he has been doing in order to publicise the importance of donating.

After the procedure Sam returned to a hotel in London to wait to see if it had produced enough stem cells for the patient in Ohio before being given the OK to go home.

He said: “The pain wasn’t too bad in the end and, more importantly, the recipient will get to benefit from the transplant.”

Serve On Operations Director Dan spoke for everyone at our charity when he said: “We are really proud of you Sam and thinking of you and your selfless courage.”

Meanwhile, International Response Team volunteer Nick went out of his way to bring some happiness – with dits and memorabilia – to an elderly former Royal Marine in care – a gesture that was much appreciated and which helped the old ‘Royal’ immensely.