Comedian Al Murray is urging people to join the stem cell register following the death of his eight-year-old nephew, Finley, who died from juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia in 2021. The 58-year-old, known for his Pub Landlord persona, is asking the public to “pack a parachute for a stranger” to help others “escape cancer”.
Despite having two stem cell transplants, the treatment did not work, fuelling Murray’s calls to encourage more people to join the register and increase the chances of finding a match.
Anthony Nolan partnership
Partnering with Anthony Nolan, Murray features in its new campaign, Half a Chance, which highlights that only 50% of blood cancer patients survive for five years or more after a donor stem cell transplant – where patients’ stem cells are replaced with those from a healthy donor.
Set in a traditional pub, Murray appears alongside three stem cell transplant recipients; however, next to them are three empty barstools, representing those in need of a transplant.
Emotional appeal
Speaking to the Press Association, he said: “Seeing my brother-in-law and his wife lose their son, and seeing the fact that there was a chance of defeating this, of escaping from the cancer via stem cell donation, you just think, well, more people need to know about that.
“It feels like you’re being asked to pack a parachute for a stranger. Why wouldn’t you go on this register? Why wouldn’t you do this? Particularly as the chances are they won’t call you.”
His nephew Finley would have been 13 and was described by Murray as a “terrific” and a “jolly little boy”. He said: “There isn’t a day we don’t think about him. Watching people lose a child is probably the worst thing you can be adjacent to, apart from losing one yourself. It was a horrible, horrible, bitter experience.
“It’s punishing, aside from the anguish and the anxiety of a child dealing with an illness like that, what it does, it turns your life upside down, I think is really quite extreme.”
Register details
Signing up to the register does not mean you will automatically go on to donate your stem cells as it may be that there are not patients with your tissue type. According to the Anthony Nolan website, 90% of donations are collected through your bloodstream while 10% are collected from the bone marrow. Both procedures are carried out thousands of times every year and are very safe.
Murray said he is on the register but is too old and that it needs younger people aged 16-30 as well as people from different backgrounds to help increase the possibility of matches and, ultimately, someone’s survival.
He said: “It’s a sort of numbers game. The more people they have, the more data they have, the better they understand it, the better they can increase people’s chances of survival. It’s like buying a lottery ticket, but someone else wins.
“When you meet the people who’ve had the stem cell treatment and it’s worked, they are 100% aware they’ve got this second chance that they’ve been rescued by a stranger – by a stranger’s intervention. It’s a beautiful thing that you could do if you got on the register.”
