Queen’s Park Rangers FC welcomed DKMS to their Loftus Road stadium as official match day partners for their game against Hull City on 9 December.
Eager DKMS volunteers and staff decked in Santa hats, bunting and collection buckets got a warm reception from both teams’ fans as they raised funds and awareness of the need for more people to sign up to the DKMS register as potential stem cell donors.
VIP spectators at the game were double stem cell transplant recipient Finn Hill and his parents Jo and Paul.
Finn's inspiring story was featured in our recent advertising campaign in Nottingham and Birmingham. At half-time, a film about Finn was shown via video broadcast on the huge stadium screen. Finn and Jo were interviewed on the pitch by QPR's Head of Communications, Paul Morrissey, with Jo poignantly telling spectators, “Without his stem cell transplants, Finn would not be with us today. By signing up to the DKMS stem cell register, you could be offering someone with blood cancer a second chance at life.”
Finn was presented with a signed QPR shirt by QPR ambassador Andy Sinton. QPR defender Jimmy Dunne also gave a huge social media boost to DKMS awareness-raising when he joined Finn, Jo, Paul and DKMS representatives to tell football fans everywhere: “Register with DKMS on their website, it’s really easy - please do it. You can support people like Finn, and many other people like him.”
DKMS sends huge thanks to QPR and the Loftus Road crowd on Saturday: in the mission to delete blood cancer, everyone was a winner!