GLENROTHES & Central Fife MP, Lindsay Roy, is supporting a blood cancer charity’s campaign to find more teenage lifesavers.

Anthony Nolan’s ‘Save a Life at 16’ seeks to persuade HMRC to include details of the charity’s bone marrow donor register when it writes to young people with their National Insurance numbers in advance of their 16th birthdays.

The charity has pledged to cover all associated costs and hopes this would encourage more 16-year-olds to join the register. This is important as young people are more likely to be chosen as stem cell donors by transplant doctors, however, currently under-20s make up just 4% of the register.

ANT hopes that if young people are informed about the chance to save the lives of people with cancers such as leukaemia, many more will step forward to register, with an increase of up to 25 per cent in the number of young donors predicted.

Cardenden and Kinglassie MP, Mr Roy, who has written to HMRC and the Public Health Minister to ask them to support the plan, said, “I think this is a wonderful idea and I am delighted to back it.

“There are currently 752 people in my constituency on the bone marrow donor register, but clearly many more are needed, especially young people.

“The Anthony Nolan campaign is a great way of doing just that and I sincerely hope that it proves successful”.

Henny Braund, Chief Executive of Anthony Nolan, said, “Every year in the UK around 2000 people with blood cancer need stem cell donations from a stranger. We believe young people are passionate about helping others, but they also need to be well informed about the chances open to them.

“By agreeing to our proposal, the Government can make it easier for people as young as 16 to become lifesavers.” To join the register, you must be aged between 16 and 30, weigh more than 7st 12lbs (50kgs) and be in general good health.

For more information about the charity’s work or to sign up online, visit www.anthonynolan.org