One of Wanderers’ medical staff is running the London Marathon on Sunday to help raise funds for a cause close to his heart.
Matty Donnelly – the Whites’ first-team sports therapist – lost his dad in 2005 to leukaemia and will be following in his father’s footsteps when he runs the marathon for Anthony Nolan, the charity which saves lives through stem cells.
During his many treatments for leukaemia – a rare form of blood cancer – Matty’s father, Stephen, received a bone marrow donation from his brother Phillip.
Raising his own awareness of bone marrow and stem cell treatment, Matty then registered with Anthony Nolan to become a donor and in 2015 was matched and able to donate stem cells to a woman in the UK no longer with a family.
“That’s why I’m running for Anthony Nolan, so other people can experience giving others a chance,” said Matty, 31, who will line up in the capital along with more than 56,000 other runners for the 45th edition of the race on Sunday after putting in the hard yards of training over the past few months.
“The London Marathon seems a fitting place to raise as much money as I can as my dad ran the marathon back in 1991 in a time of three hours and 11 minutes.
“I’m not sure I’ll beat that, but it will mean a lot to run the same race and do what I can to raise money for such a valuable cause in his memory.”
Around 2,000 people need a lifesaving stem cell transplant every year in the UK. Charitable organisation Anthony Nolan matches stem cell donors to those in need of transplants and treatments through its stem cell register, which it is aiming to grow to one million potential donors.
Anthony Nolan recruits people to the stem cell register aged between 16-30 and urgently needs more people, especially young men aged between 16-30 and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, to join and help provide more matches for patients in need.
Anyone wishing to support Matty’s fund-raising effort from the London Marathon can do so by donating HERE
To find out more about Anthony Nolan and to potentially join its register, please click HERE