Yesterday, at the Tower of London, I was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to stem cell donation.

In the lead up to the day, I had no idea what to expect, which made for an exciting and unusual experience.

Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London led the Honours Presentation, on behalf of His Majesty The King.

I felt very privileged to be amongst all these Medallists and Voluntary Service Award winners, whose actions and conduct had been recognised by others, because they were deemed to have gone above and beyond the call of duty, for the betterment of society.

There were 45 medals awarded and 15 Queen’s Awards for Voluntary Service in the presentation yesterday.

Unexpectedly, one by one, as the medallists names were called out, there was also a citation which went into some detail explaining why the award was being presented. I found this to be hugely inspiring and extremely touching.

This highly decorated Colonel announced the Medallists. After she called out my name, I switched to auto pilot and have no idea what she said…

As I lined up to be announced, I found myself lost in thought about how I came to be standing there. I thought about Margot and our family tragedy. And I thought about how the work of the charity has helped me as well as so many others, in such positive ways. And I reflected on Margot’s enduring legacy: the lives that have been saved because of the work of Team Margot. 

On behalf of the charity beneficiaries, I want to thank our family and friends, the charity trustees and the thousands of complete strangers who are all a part of Team Margot, having registered as donors, spread the word and / or donated or fundraised in support of the charity work we do.

Together, we share a belief and a philosophy and I hope you’ll also pause to recognise and celebrate our collective achievements and feel good about all our various contributions, however small they might seem. 

It’s always astonished me how talking about Margot, simply having conversations about donation and sharing the work of Team Margot can lead to life saving outcomes.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Yaser

Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)