Rugby stars rally for City engineer who has weeks to find a donor
A young Londoner struck down with leukaemia has inspired more than 600 people to become bone marrow donors in an attempt to save his life.
Henry Scot-Simmonds from Clapham has just weeks to find a match for a bone marrow transplant.
A group of premiership rugby players, including Mike Tindall, the boyfriend of Zara Phillips, are among 650 people who have already come forward to be tested. So far no one has been found to be compatible.
The 24-year-old from Clapham, who found out he has a rare form of the disease five weeks ago, has until October to have the life-saving transplant.
The Anthony Nolan Trust is setting up a temporary clinic in central London in a bid to persuade more potential donors to be tested.
Mr Scot-Simmonds's sister Georgina, 26, said: "We are in a race against time and need to test as many people as possible. People don't realise how easy it is to be tested.
"We ran a clinic in my home town of Cheltenham, which is when Gloucester rugby club got involved. So many people came forward, including Henry's old school friends who haven't seen him for years. But we still need more."
Mr Scot-Simmonds, a fit and healthy rugby player who works as a civil engineer in Bank, collapsed outside his doctor's surgery five weeks ago.
Hours later doctors broke the news that he had cancer. He had been suffering from flulike symptoms and tiredness but put it down to working long hours.
He was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia with a Philadelphia chromosome, which means chemotherapy alone will not cure him.
Miss Scot-Simmonds said: "I was with him in hospital when he was told he had cancer and I had to leave the ward. It was heartbreaking.
"I do not believe anyone should have to be told they cannot have a transplant for this reason and there is no hope. Everyone deserves hope.
"Henry is so touched that so many people have come forward to be tested, including Gloucester rugby players Luke Narraway, Nick Wood and Andy Hazel. Even Mike Tindall is supporting the campaign. But Henry is very modest and doesn't want to bother anyone."
The Scot-Simmonds family is trying to persuade 1,000 people to join the bone marrow register.
Caroline Berger of the Anthony Nolan Trust said: "This is a very strong patient appeal, but we still need more. If donors are not a match for Henry they could go on and save someone else's lives. This is a real call to action for people in London - we need as many healthy people aged between 18 and 40 to come forward ."
The London clinic will take place on Tuesday between 4pm and 8pm at Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street WC2. Phone 020 7284 1234 for details.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Visitors to the clinic will be asked to give a 4ml blood sample and can then go home.
The blood is tested to establish the tissue type.
Results are stored on The Anthony Nolan Trust's confidential database.
When a potential bone marrow match is found the charity will telephone the donor for further tests to establish whether they could be a donor. This could happen immediately or it could take years. Some people may never be required to donate.
