Isle of Wight Festival

Love Hope & Strength: Saving Lives one Concert at a Time

Record numbers swab to save a life at Isle of Wight Festival

A record number of people signed up to join the UK Stem Cell Registry at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival. 500 people signed up and swabbed the inside of their cheeks at a festival stand run by charities Love Hope & Strength  and Delete Blood Cancer UK.  Joining the blood stem cell registry means that they will go on stand-by to maybe one day give a donation to someone in search of a lifesaving donor match.

For many blood cancer patients a blood stem cell donation is their only chance of survival, but only half of the people diagnosed in the UK find a matching donor. The more people who join the registry, the greater the chances of people finding their lifesaving match, which is why Delete Blood Cancer UK and Love Hope Strength Foundation are so thrilled at the huge number of people who registered at this year’s festival.

Agnieszka Chrosciel, Donor Recruitment Manager at Delete Blood Cancer UK, explains the impact of the event: “Thank you to everyone who came to our stand drive and registered as potential blood stem cell donors. Everyone who registered will increase the chances of those needing a blood stem cell donation of finding their lifesaving match. What a special thing to do when you are already having a great weekend. As one of the people signing up said to me – going to see your favourite bands play is a wonderful and memorable thing to do, and becoming a potential lifesaver at the same time makes it all the more wonderful and memorable.”·

The Love Hope Strength Foundation is literally working to save lives – one concert at a time. In conjunction with Delete Blood Cancer UK, the Love Hope Strength Foundation harnesses the global power of the music industry and the passion of its fans to save lives – one concert at a time.

Speaking about the event, Jules Peters, co-founder of Love Hope Strength said: “We are very grateful to Isle of Wight Promoter, John Giddings at Solo Music Agency, for giving us the opportunity to set up a Delete Blood Cancer UK / Love Hope Strength Foundation booth and potentially save a life. The response over the weekend from the IOW festival-goers was overwhelming!”

“How amazing if one of the IOW Festival fans is able to save a life!”