On Monday 7 October 2013, Margot was diagnosed with blood cancer. Today is the first Monday 7 October since that day, and the fifth year we have promoted a Team Margot Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Registration Day.
Team Margot campaigns for everyone who is eligible, particularly those of mixed heritage, to register as a stem cell and bone marrow donor.
This year we are promoting this message via the Team Margot Atlantic Rowers and our #WeRowYouRegister campaign. Our three man team will embark on the 3,000 mile Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge on 12 December, rowing from La Gomera in the Canaries to Antigua in the largest race yet.
The idea is that you don’t have to do anything extreme, like rowing across the Atlantic, we just want you to join the register.
Whilst our core message hasn’t changed, along the way we have reflected upon the circumstances of Margot’s situation & her urgent need for blood and platelets 6 years ago today, as well as how Vicki and I considered donating Margot’s organs shortly before her death.
The culture and philosophy of donation is central to it all and we refer to this as ‘giving to help others’.
In partnership with NHS Blood and Transplant, we launched givingtohelpothers.org two years ago and this week we will be notifying tens of thousands of primary school teachers and PSHE coordinators directly via email, of our latest education module “All About Organs”, in advance of the new law change around organ donation in Spring next year.
Central to ’Max and Kiera’s law’ is the practical involvement of family and loved ones with the decision to donate the organs of the deceased.
Please spare a moment today to talk about donation with your loved ones, so that each of you knows of the others decision.
Someday, it might help them to honour your choice at a difficult time, and help you to honour theirs.
Thank you.
Team Margot
Together, saving lives
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN SAVE A LIFE
(click on the links below)
WHAT’S INVOLVED WITH A STEM CELL
OR BONE MARROW DONATION
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT AND
A BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT
HOW TO REGISTER AS A
STEM CELL OR BONE MARROW DONOR
Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)
Team Margot’s mission
To help save and improve lives by educating, inspiring and motivating people, especially from ethnically diverse communities, to register as blood, organ, stem cell and bone marrow donors and to provide a range of support to families caring for child cancer patients.