Anthony Nolan

Today we’re excited to unveil our new look! Our refreshed brand reflects how we’ve broadened our scope – uniting people and science to unlock new lifesaving treatments and ensuring that patients have a better quality of life after transplant. As a result, we’re connecting with more people than ever – including stem cell donors, patients, fundraisers, healthcare professionals and researchers. We’ve also updated our strapline from ‘Saving the lives of people with blood cancer’ to ‘Saving lives through stem cells.’ Why? Because there are so many amazing ways stem cells can help even more patients. We won’t stop until we’ve uncovered the lifesaving potential of the cells inside us all.

“It's an absolute honour to be recognised by Anthony Nolan with this award. To deliver something that has been so appreciated by the charity, to see the work that's being taken forward and to see the impact of our work make a difference, it’s fantastic.” Earlier this year, five employees at Morgan Stanley were given the challenge of finding ways to reduce donor attrition. Unfortunately in recent years, we’ve seen a significant drop off between donors registering, and then being willing or able to donate once they receive the call (which can happen many years after initially registering). The team of volunteers worked intensely to understand our organisation and the lifesaving work we do, and came up with a number of recommendations to help improve donor availability and address inequalities amongst patients, and we’re already implementing these changes. Their work was so impactful that not only have the team won the Morgan Stanley Strategy Challenge, but they also won our Gamechangers of the Year award at the Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards! A huge thank you to the team for dedicating their time to support our lifesaving work – it really is gamechanging.

Last month, we were honoured to attend the Third Sector Awards alongside David and Dougie from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. SFRS, who we have partnered with for 15 years now, were shortlisted for two awards: Frontline Team of the Year, and Corporate Partnership of the Year. Whilst the team didn’t win the awards, they had a wonderful afternoon hearing about so many incredible causes, and reflected on and celebrated the amazing partnership we have. The team at SFRS are all volunteers, and so far 116 people they have signed up to the register have gone onto donate their stem cells to a stranger in need of a transplant. Thank you again to the team for their incredible work – here’s to another 15 years of a fantastic partnership.

Unbox our lifesaving equipment with us! 🙌 This is an apheresis machine, designed to collect stem cells from our incredible donors at our brand new cell collection centre - opening soon!

“It was the loveliest news, we were humbled and touched by the recognition. We’re all motivated by a common purpose to create this positive, lasting legacy.” Lactalis UK & Ireland recently won our Organisational Fundraiser of the Year award at the Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards. The organisation have supported Anthony Nolan ever since 2021 – when their colleague Julien Desilles sadly passed away from leukaemia. Julien and his family were supported by us, so his colleagues voted overwhelmingly for us as their charity of the year after he passed away. Ever since, the team at Lactalis have thrown their support behind our lifesaving work – raising over £60,000 for us in numerous creative ways, including, sports days, pizza making parties, sweepstakes, bake sales, sky dives and so much more! We couldn’t be more grateful for Lactalis’ ongoing support – allowing us to continue our lifesaving work.

This Black History Month, we’re recognising one of the many victims of medical racism – Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks was a Black woman who died from ovarian cancer in 1951, but her legacy also continues under a different name: ‘HeLa.’ This is the code name given to her cancer cells that live on in petri dishes and lab flasks around the world. HeLa cells have reached a state of practical immortality, with trillions continuously growing in research labs everywhere, helping scientists develop breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The problem is that her cells were taken by her doctor without her consent, and her family was treated terribly in their fight for recognition and reparations – it wasn’t until the 1970s that they even learned about the use of HeLa cells. Pharmaceutical companies have profited untold millions by using the cells to help develop new drugs, and in 2013 Henrietta’s DNA was even shared online against the wishes of her family. Henrietta’s family have now received a small amount of justice in the form of undisclosed settlements from pharmaceutical companies, and they continue to support the victims of non-consensual medicine through the Henrietta Lacks Foundation. The story of HeLa cells can help remind us of the persistence of medical racism. The donation of cells for research or transplant must be taken with utmost respect for the donor, and a recognition of inequities that continue to challenge our goals to provide the best care for every patient. Anthony Nolan is committed to improving equity for all patients who need a stem cell transplant, or who could benefit from new cell and gene therapies. We are actively researching the causes of healthcare inequities, and implementing strategies to address them. Henrietta Lacks’ story reminds us that it’s the duty of every scientist, clinician and healthcare organisation to constantly question the ethics of their work and its impact on marginalised communities. Read more about Henrietta’s legacy here: https://lnkd.in/dPvtydF

Tomorrow, 63 runners will be taking on the Half Marathon Royal Parks as part of #TeamAN – and one of them will be Laurie! Late last year, Laurie’s dad Eddie was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome – a rare form of blood cancer. “We were told there was no cure – unless a stem cell donor could be found. Dad endured months of gruelling chemotherapy, staying positive, whilst we all kept on hoping for a match. Amazingly, Anthony Nolan found a donor - an anonymous hero who donated cells which entirely replaced Dad's bone marrow.” As a way of saying thank you, and giving other families the hope that Eddie’s donor gave their family, Laurie decided to take on the challenge of running 13.1 miles around the Royal Parks of London, and has raised an incredible £18000! Eddie is now two months post-transplant. “I’m getting stronger everyday - we can’t express the immense gratitude we feel for all that our medical team and Anthony Nolan have done to get us to this stage.” Share your good luck wishes in the comments below – and let us know if you’ll be there!

“We are so lucky to have so many people, working so hard, to help us save lives through stem cells. And to be honest – we have nothing like enough time or awards ceremonies to give everyone the credit they’re due.” “But thanks to every single supporter, and thanks to the legacy of Shirley and Anthony Nolan – Anthony Nolan is not only looking forward to next year’s awards, but also looking forward to the next 50 years of lifesaving.” – Henny Braund, CEO Last night, we held the Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards at the OXO Tower, in London! The annual event, designed to say a huge thank you to some very special people who have gone above and beyond in their support of our lifesaving work. We were joined by 150 of our supporters as we recognised some of their remarkable achievements – from families who share their stories to inspire hope, to lifesaving donors, fantastic fundraisers, dedicated volunteers and scientists and researchers, and it was a privilege to celebrate their achievements. Thank you everyone who supports our work in any way – we couldn’t continue saving lives through stem cells without you.

We’re pleased to announce that the Anthony Nolan Research Institute and our Cell Therapy Centre have both been awarded bronze LEAF sustainability accreditation! We’ve been introducing lots of changes to the way we work, so that we can provide our lifesaving research and clinical services in a more sustainable way. Did you know, freezers that use ultra-low temperatures to store important samples for research often use the equivalent of a household’s energy annually? One of our steps towards becoming a more environmentally sustainable organisation was focused around refining our storage processes, and replacing old equipment, to minimise energy consumption. To achieve bronze accreditation, the team focused on staff education, waste generation, and energy usage – and are now hoping to work towards the silver and gold accreditation! This work is in line with our recently released Environmental Sustainability Policy – which details our commitment to hit Net Zero by 2050. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4esiW4u LEAF accreditation is lead by Kyle Annette-Woodgate at Anthony Nolan, and is certified by UCL - we're grateful to the UCL staff and LEAF-leads for their support.

“Our greatest achievement is that the number of people being given another chance to live has risen from three people to four people every day. This is just the beginning for our teams who continue to seize every opportunity to do more, and do better, for every patient who needs us.” Today we share our Annual Report, where we look back on what we have achieved so far, and what is still to be achieved in the years ahead. Last year, we gave 1448 patients a second chance of life, recruited 27607 people to the stem cell register, and 1109 people gave up their time to volunteer with us – we couldn’t be more grateful! But that’s not all – we’re continuing to work on improving survival rates for patients who receive stem cell transplants, increase equity of access to treatments and equity of outcomes for all patients, and explore and embrace new cell therapies – these could be lifelines for patients. Find out more about everything we’ve achieved in the last financial year, and what our hopes are for the future: https://bit.ly/3Ybs08g