Hundreds of potential stem cell donors have been recruited at a series of clinics held at venues around the island recently.

Stem cells are used to treat, amongst other things, any type of blood disorder or blood cancer, including leukaemia and lymphomas.

As with organ transplants, patients can receive a stem cell donation only from another person who is a suitable match for them and this is where the recruiting clinics come in.

Potential donors have their DNA tested with a simple mouth swab and their details then go on a register run from the UK by the charity, the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust. The register can help to find donors for patients not just in Britain but all around the world.

The charity was initially set up in 1974 by Shirley Nolan who was searching for a bone marrow donor to save her young son Anthony’s life. Sadly Anthony died before a suitable donor was found but by that time the register was already up and running and saving other lives and has continued to do so ever since.

Ivan Bratty, chairman of the Isle of Man branch of the charity, explained that medical technology has moved on since those days and now stem cells are used in most cases rather than bone marrow which could be painful to donate: ’It has moved from the more intrusive type of operation where it was the bone marrow taken from the hip, to stem cells. It’s a much easier decision to become a donor.

’We have also moved from the blood sampling, which was the initial way you went onto the register, to taking saliva samples and then, last October, we moved on to the DNA swab and that’s obviously made it much easier and cut costs from £120 to maintain you on the register to £40.’

Research carried out by the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust (ANBMT) has also determined that patients survive longer when they receive a transplant from a younger donor so 16 to 30 is now the target age for donors.

Ivan said: ’For about the past five years I’ve been going around the schools because they are really the future. We don’t just talk about stem cell donation, we talk about being a blood donor and organ donation as well so that they’re aware of the ways they can save somebody’s life.’

Talks in the schools are given added impact when Karl Gaskell speaks: Karl donated stem cells three years ago and can tell the students all about his experience.

Karl, 42, and his wife Micki were both encouraged by a friend to join the ANBMT register more than 15 years ago then ’promptly forgot all about it’ until he was contacted by the charity almost three years ago.

Karl recalled: ’When I signed up it was still a blood test rather than the swabs so I had to have a second lot of blood tests done at Noble’s.

They got sent away and it was only about two or three days later that I got the phone call saying that I was a match.

Because donor and patient anonymity are considered paramount Karl knows very little about the person he was donating to: ’They’re not allowed to tell you where they are or who they are. I was told that it was a young adult female who weighed half of my body weight.

’I was about 12 ½ stone so it gives you an impression that it’s either a very young person or a very poorly one.’

When he asked the medics what they classed as a ’young adult’ they told him that it would be around 16 years old.

Following a full health check, including a chest x-ray and ECG, Karl was given a growth hormone for four days to increase the number of stem cells in his blood.

This can cause side effects which the ANBMT describe as flu-like symptoms. Karl said: ’When I talk to the schoolkids I tell them it feels like a hangover without the headache - it’s that kind of feeling.

’And that was the worst of it really I just felt a little bit lethargic, a bit achy, but as soon as the stem cells were out of my system I almost instantly felt better.’

The patient had also been prepared, having undergone chemotherapy to eradicate her immune system in preparation for the transplant.

At every stage leading up to the donation Karl was told that he could still pull out if wanted to: ’But I was thinking: "I can’t: this poor girl has had her whole immune system wiped out, there’s no way that you could pull out at this point,’ he said.

The actual donation is carried out at the London Clinic, a private hospital just off Harley Street. Karl explained: ’They put a line in one arm and send your blood through a machine which basically acts as a centrifuge.

As this spins the heavier stem cells fall to the bottom of a bag and the flow of blood continues on, returning to the other arm. Every now and then you hear a whirring sound as the valve switches over and the machine presses the stem cells out of the bag and they go up into to the main collection bag.’

As an industrial chemist for the MUA, Karl was interested in the process from a scientific point of view but he added:

’The whole process takes about four hours and is rather boring: luckily the London Clinic has really good wifi so I took my iPad and watched two films whilst it was going on.’

He had involved his two young daughters, Aemilia, now nine, and Claudia, seven, in the process: ’We’d explained to them what was happening and they were there when I had the bloods taken so they knew it wasn’t painful and it was nothing to be scared of and they were there when the nurses were giving me the [growth hormone] injections as well.’

He is still not sure whether or not the patient has survived. He said: ’I had a letter at the 18-month point [after donation] saying that she was still having some graft versus donor issues but she was still alive.

’So I kind of consoled myself that 18 months longer to spend with your family, and I’m a parent so 18 months to spend with your child, is something even if the outcome isn’t great in the long term.I’d like to hope that she made a full recovery.’

He has left it open for the patient to get in touch with him in the future if she wishes to but he adds: ’You’ve got to assume that if you’ve had something severe like that happen to you at that age you just want to put it behind you and move on with your life.’

Karl understands that a stem cell transplant is a treatment of last resort and the patient doesn’t always survive but he says: ’At least everyone knows that they have done everything they possibly can.’

Some donors feel elated by being able to do something possibly life-saving. but Karl described his own feelings slightly differently. ’I’m pleased I did it and I would do it again but for me it was different and I think it’s because I’ve got kids of my own.

’I wasn’t thinking: "this is a great thing to do", I was thinking: "what if it had been one of my kids?"

’That was the recurring thought for me and that’s why I got involved and do the talks to the kids because obviously the more people you have on the register they more chance you have if something does go wrong.’

â?¢ To join the register as a potential stem cell donor go online at www.anthonynolan.org and they will send you a swab kit.