Divine Keeper of Majestic Stem cells
DKMS Volunteering Manager Ian Corpuz highlights the vital role of DKMS volunteers to our mission.
Occupation: Ian is our Volunteer Manager. He is also a part-time football coach for a local authority. He lives in London with his family and parents.
Hopes for 2023, current hopes: This is a difficult one as 2023 is coming to a close, but one of my hopes/goals for the year I haven’t ticked off the list is getting my driver’s licence by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!
My current hopes are to recruit more volunteers and students at DKMS to raise awareness of blood cancer and blood disorders, register more people to the stem cell register and support the charity by organising fundraising challenges during 2024, such as a skydive! *hint hint* to any of the volunteers reading this.
What amusing or interesting phrase do you think the initials DKMS could stand for in English?: Divine Keeper of Majestic Stem cells (to everyone in need)
What does DKMS mean to you?
To be honest, DKMS has educated me about blood cancer and blood disorders, the stem cell registry and the importance of stem cell donation. Everyone knows about cancers but never enough until someone close to them or a family member gets the devastating news. DKMS gives hope and holds the hand of those in need to delete cancer in their lives.
What is your relationship to DKMS?
I support the amazing volunteers of DKMS we have across the UK, it’s a wonderful occupation. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and have different life experiences with a common goal – increasing the stem registry so everyone has access to a donor. Our volunteers are so important to the work we do to reach diverse local communities across the country. It’s a joy to work with incredible people supporting the cause and the charity. We wouldn't be where we are now without their support over the last 10 years.
My ambition is to make volunteering fun and innovative at DKMS, to support our volunteers increase the registry but also help them reach their personal goals or learn new skills they can use in their daily lives or their careers.
My bigger dream is to give opportunities to DKMS volunteers across the different entities to learn from each other, make new friends and build long-lasting memories volunteering together to reach our mission.
How could DKMS encourage other people to join up as potential stem cell donors or support our work?
Firstly, by becoming volunteers at DKMS! 😊
Our volunteers are the incredible backbone of the organisation, being able to start the conversation in their local communities about blood cancers and blood disorders, giving them the knowledge and information to make an informed choice in signing up for the stem cell register.
In my experience, everyone who wants to volunteer anywhere has a unique skill or something they want to learn/develop but needs an environment to give them the opportunity to do so. DKMS gives you that chance but also saves lives. 😊 We have a number of different volunteering projects like Student vs Blood Cancer, where we ask students to organise donor drives at their colleges or universities. We also have other roles, including traditional volunteering such as admin volunteers that support different departments at the charity. Volunteering is very flexible at DKMS.
But if volunteering is not for you, there are many ways of helping DKMS. It costs £40 to register someone onto the stem cell registry, so fundraising is something we need to keep us going. There are so many fun and crazy ways to raise money for DKMS, from organising a trick-or-treat party during Halloween, to running a marathon to running a bake sale at a school. No matter how much you raise it goes a long way in supporting DKMS.
- Stem cell and bone marrow transplant (NHS website) - five main stages of the transplant process.
- Donation Explained - our step-by-step guide to registering as a stem cell donor.
- What is blood cancer? - overviews of stem cells, types of blood cancers and blood disorders, and their treatment.
