In this episode we hear from Ellie Moss, Donor Recruitment Co-ordinator - Follow-up / Patient Donor Contact with DKMS.

We talked the huge impact that the extraordinary people who sign up to the stem cell register have on the people waiting for a stem cell transplant, the role she has within the organisation, the personal and emotional aspects of donating and all that happens after, when a donor and recipient meet.

It was a real privilege, as always, to speak with my guest and I'm grateful for Ellie's lively and informative, very human conversation around this topic.

DKMS began after Peter Harf's wife, Mechtild Harf was told the only treatment for her leukaemia was a bone marrow transplant. At the time, she had no matching family members.

On 28 May 1991, Peter founded DKMS with his wife’s transplant physician, Gerhard Ehninger. In their first year, they expanded the registry to 68,000 donors. After Mechtild sadly passed away, Peter and daughter, Katharina continued to be motivated by Mechtild and by 1995, they built DKMS into the world’s largest stem cell donor register.

DKMS celebrate 10 years in the UK this year and continue to work hard to raise awareness and bring more people to the stem cell register.

You can find out more about DKMS and signing up to the stem cell register at www.dkms.org.uk