'It was so easy to give people more years of life'

A man has given his stem cells twice in the space of a decade to help save the lives of two people.

Brad Green, from Sheffield, was inspired to sign the Anthony Nolan stem cell register at the age of 20 after a school friend's dad was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Mr Green said he did not expect being called to donate just two weeks later and was even more surprised when he was told he was a match for a second person earlier this year.

He is now one of 0.7% of donors to have given his stem cells twice.

Speaking of his first experience, Mr Green, now 31, said he remembered thinking: "God, how easy was that?"

"Because it's anonymous and because you don't really see the impact it's having first hand, you're sitting there thinking, 'well, I've done my bit, now I can go home'," the father-of-one said.

"But actually, at that point, it's that patient's start of his journey to recovery."

Mr Green initially did not know who had received his stem cells but later learned the patient was John Herries, who had been diagnosed with an aggressive type of blood cancer.

The pair eventually went on to meet and to this day keep in touch via email.

Mr Herries, who is 59 and a beach lifeguard from north Devon, said: "It was a real pleasure to meet Brad and his parents.

"We're genetic twins so it was interesting to see if we looked the same – we didn't."

The Anthony Nolan charity supports people with blood cancer and blood disorders. The register was established in 1974.

Earlier this year, nearly a decade after his first donation, Mr Green received another call from the charity telling him he was a match for a second person.

Donors in the UK can only give stem cells twice to two different patients, though Mr Green said if he could, he would continue to donate.

"For me, it was just so easy for what you're actually getting in return, which is potentially giving somebody a load more years of life with family and friends," he said.

"I can't do it a third time, but I would do it three, four, five times over if it was possible."

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