Give Blood and/or Donate Bone Marrow

ripples of compassion, support for bereaved parents, supporting parents of children with cancer, bristol — Donate Blood

Every red bead on Ripley’s Beads of Courage shows a blood transfusion or platelet top-up that Ripley needed as part of her treatment. Without the amazing people that regularly gave blood, Ripley would not have made it past her first weekend in the hospital or for the many months following her treatment.

Read more about beads of courage.

Find out if you can give blood to help more children like Ripley - find your closest centre here

Ripples of compassion, supporting children with cancer, life limiting decisions and bereaved parents in Bristol — Join The Bone Marrow Registry

Many cancer patients need to rely on a match from the bone marrow registry as part of their treatment.
This was the case for Ripley, who needed a Stem Cell Transplant in April 2017.
She had no siblings so we sought an unrelated match from the bone marrow registry. Whilst for Ripley this was not enough to cure her Leukaemia for others with a good enough match it might be and we want as many people as possible to join the Bone Marrow Registry.

For us, her transplant gave us 9 more happy months and memories with our beautiful daughter.

You can join the Bone Marrow Register through:

NHS Blood and Transplant Service (if you are between 17 - 40 years old)

Anthony Nolan (if you are between 16 - 30 years old)

DKMS (if you are between 17 - 55 years old)

Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry (if you are between 17 - 30 years old)

Please note that you only need to join one UK registry as your matching information is shared anonymously and held as a central register.

When you sign up don't forget to mention Ripples of Compassion and #RegisterForRipley so we can share your amazing support.

We sometimes have the opportunity to sign up to the bone marrow register at our fundraising events so follow our Facebook for more details.

Ripples of Compassion, supporting bereaved parents and children with cancer or life limiting conditions — Donate Your Umbilical Cord

Umbilical cord donation is not something that is routinely done in the UK and often they are just thrown away.
We were unable to find a 9/10 or 10/10 match for Ripley’s transplant from a living donor and so she received her transplant from a donated umbilical cord.
To find out more about donating your umbilical cord after birth please visit the NHS Blood and Transplant Service website and speak with your midwife to include it on your birth plan.