Reasons to be (Beer) Blogging - Part 7 - to promote a worthy cause

The wise man mentioned a couple of posts ago was a gentleman called Yaser Martini who, at the time, was a partner at pub and restaurant estate agents, Fleurets.

Since then, and more recently, Yaser and his family have been through a dreadful time.  In late 2013 their 14 month old daughter, Margot, was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and urgently needed a bone marrow transplant. The beer and pub industry supported a widespread, social media driven publicity campaign kicked off by Yaser to raise awareness for Margot and generally encourage people to join the register of bone marrow donors.  A partial match was found and Margot received her stem cell transplant in early 2014.  So often these sort of stories have a happy ending but in this case it was not to be.  Despite encouraging improvements in her condition at times, it was so sad that Margot died in late 2014.

Since then, and to provide a lasting legacy to the memory of Margot, the Martini family have thrown themselves into publicising the fact that there remains an urgent need for people to become potential stem cell / bone marrow donors.  Please take a few moments to have a look at the new charity, Team Margot, website and consider whether you might be interested in joining that growing list.

It is simple and easy to put yourself on the register.  Take a look here - there is a simple registration, you will be sent a 'do-it-yourself' swab kit in the post, rub the cotton bud on your cheek, post it back and you are on the UK register.  As I understand it, if you are lucky enough to be selected as a match, the procedure is a simple one, slightly more invasive than giving blood and you are left with the overwhelming feeling that you have hopefully saved a life.

There is no charge for registration though the charities who maintain the registers obviously rely mainly upon charitable donations.  I am today sending a donation of £120 to Delete Blood Cancer to cover a handful of people who might wish to join the register on the strength of this blog posting.

This is my contribution for the @Tryanuary campaign - more about this in a future post.