Forfar Academy pupils have been hailed for their remarkable response to a lifesaving partnership project by the firefighter whose own blood cancer diagnosis sparked the vital programme.
In the latest stage of a drive which it is hoped will eventually involve secondaries across the whole of Tayside, the Angus school staged a registration event for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Anthony Nolan charity initiative, which has already delivered potentially lifesaving matches for those in need of a stem cell transplant.
The scheme was launched in 2009, a year after Ally Boyle, a fire service area commander from Hamilton, was diagnosed with blood cancer.
The condition forced his retiral from the service four years ago, but since then he has been a driving force behind the initiative to educate young people about the need for stem cell donors and develop positive citizenship through the partnership involving SFRS colleagues and the charity.
The programme has added thousands of people aged 16 to 30 to the Anthony Nolan register of potential stem cell donors, including around 80 names from the Forfar Academy session – a statistic several times the normal 25% ‘conversion’ rate the scheme would expect from such events.
Senior Academy pupils trained as partnership champions encouraged their peers to sign up for the registration session and they joined local firefighters in administering the event.
Kingsway East SFRS station manager Fraser Scott, the tactical lead in the Tayside programme, which already involves Monifieth High and will hopefully soon expand to Perth, said a ‘conversion’ rate of 80 from around 100 expressions of interest in the run up to the event was well in excess of what would normally be expected.
“We come out to the schools, give presentations and recruit the champions, and then get them to talk to their peers in the hope that they will be willing to join the register.
Young people who register give a simple and quick saliva sample, expanding the database the charity can search when it is searching for a genetic match for a patient requiring a stem cell transplant.
Mr Scott added: “We hope to become embedded in the culture of the school, returning on an annual basis with a new group of champions in the senior year.”
Mr Boyle said: “When I was diagnosed and learned about Anthony Nolan I realised the fire service and the charity existed for exactly the same reason – to save lives – and thought there was something very positive that we could do together.
“It also gives us a chance to develop a really positive relationship with young people and promote active citizenship, through the schools and the young champions who play such an important part in this.”
