Credit: Unsplash
Reporter
Students went on blind dates to raise money for Anthony Nolan and bone marrow awareness.
On the lead up to Valentine’s day, Anthony Nolan group on campus, Glasgow Marrow, hosted a blind date matchmaking event in order to raise money and awareness over bone marrow donation, as well as help others find love.
The event was full of singles waiting to mingle and filled the Glasgow University Union throughout the night. They had matched couples based on a survey completed online before the event which asked questions based on their interests, beliefs, and what they were hoping to get out of this night.
When asked if they were looking for love, attendee David Zacek nervously said, “Maybe.”
When asked about the quality of their date they noted “Anthony Nolan wants my stem cells, my match wants my heart.” And another noted, “The booze helps.”
Perhaps the best take on the night was from one attendee who didn’t quite match with her date, “My date didn’t drink alcohol and I arrived here drunk, so maybe we were never meant to be.”
While the computer-generated software would in theory help, results might have bore out differently. Through one group we tracked, only one of the five were able to keep their original matches, the rest dumped or got dumped throughout the night. Regardless, it seemed like most had a great time.
Anthony Nolan does this at a time where there is a struggle to find bone marrow matches for many different groups of people, especially mixed-race and BAME people. This is due to the shortage of donors. Anthony Nolan’s goal is to spread awareness as well as incentivise people to donate.
Donor Recruitment Coordinator, Mark Lennie, had this to say on the event: “We’ve raised over £700 tonight! I don’t know if any of our matches found love, but they certainly have helped match blood cancer patients with the lifesaving donors they desperately need.”
If you’d like more information on or to sign-up to the Anthony Nolan Stem Cell Register please visit www.anthonynolan.org/GlasgowMarrow.
