New centre gives hope to sufferers

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Leukaemia charity the Anthony Nolan Trust said that at present only 65% of the 1,400 people desperately needing a matching donor receive it in time.

But they hope a new combined research centre and blood cord bank will mean that in five years 85% of patients will be given either a matching bone marrow or blood cord donor.

The NHS has built up a bank of 11,000 blood cords since it started its research in the area in 1996, but the charity hopes they can increase the total number of blood cords to 50,000 by 2013. To do this they need to raise £27m.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson opened the Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre in Nottingham. The £1.4 million complex will be used both to store stem cells and carry out research.

The Anthony Nolan Trust estimates that about 30,000 of the blood cords will not be good enough to use for donations.

But because stem cell scientists will be working at the same site, the charity says these cords can be easily transferred for research rather than being wasted.

Valerie Pakenham-Keady, head of capital appeals at the Anthony Nolan Trust, said: "At the moment there are about 1,400 patients in the UK that need a (blood cord or bone marrow) transplant and about 30% of those have a sibling who matches. Of the remaining 70%, half of those do not find a match.

"In five years we hope that 85% of those people in need of a stem cell transplant will at least have a chance. We always say that we want to give people the chance of life."

Stem cell donations from umbilical cords are currently being taken from new born babies at London's King's College Hospital but the charity hopes more hospitals will make it possible for mothers to donate cords in future.