Last updated at 16:17, Wednesday, 06 March 2013

LIVES could be saved after 127 students joined the bone marrow register.

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The legacy of inspirational teenager Alice Pyne helped to encourage young people to take a “spit test” at Barrow Sixth Form yesterday.

The event was organised by the Anthony Nolan Trust – the blood cancer charity which created the world’s first stem cell donation register.

Alice, who died in January, aged 17, was determined to get as many people as possible on the register.

The test can be used to determine donors and matches between patients suffering from diseases such as leukaemia and lymphoma.

Alice’s mum, Vicky Pyne, attended the event, and acted as an advisor to people taking the test.

She said: “If a match had been on the register immediately, then there was a very slim chance she (Alice) might still be here today.”

The Ulverston teen fought a long battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which in some cases can be treated by a bone marrow transplant.

“It was so important to Alice because she lost friends waiting for bone marrow transplants,” Mrs Pyne said.

“I know that parents are going through the same thing we did and it is so important to get people to sign up. I will never stop.”

The event was jointly organised by the sixth form’s student union.

Union member Sophie Etheridge, 18, said: “We all wanted to do something when Alice died.”

Ellen Marshall, communications manager at the Anthony Nolan Trust, said: “A lot of people seem to think donating bone marrow is very painful, but in reality it’s no different to giving blood.”

Ms Marshall said around 1,700 people in the UK are awaiting a bone marrow transplant, but only half will get treatment.

The trust wants to sign up younger donors because they are most likely to be selected as a match.

Laura Pryer, 18, was one of the students waiting to take the test and sign up. She said: “We just wanted to sign up – Alice was an inspiration.” Gabrielle Steele, 17, added: “I have always wanted to sign up, but it’s one of those things you never get round to.”

First published at 15:58, Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk