Be A 'Real Man' And Help Fight Blood Cancer By Becoming A Stem Cell Donor - #MarchOfTheMen
The concept of being a "real man" has long brought to mind images of tough guys and testosterone, but public opinion thinks differently. Figures from a recent survey undertaken by blood cancer awareness charity Anthony Nolan show that the majority of people surveyed, 66%, associated "real men" with the word "caring" rather than words like "tough," "successful" or "alpha-male" which had much lower percentages.
The survey also saw four in ten people believe "real men" show their emotions.
The results were released to coincide with the charity's #MarchOfTheMen campaign which wants more young men to sign up to be stem cell donors. There is currently a shortage of young male stem cell donors and as the video above reveals donors are essential to help people with diseases like blood cancer—a lack of donors means lives are tragically lost.
There are 56,948 people signed up to the Anthony Nolan register but only 15% are men aged 16-30, even though this demographic is the most in demand as stem cell donors.
Interestingly in the survey the only group who didn't give ‘caring’ as the top answer was the ‘millennial’ group of 16-30 year old guys, instead they said ‘brave’ was the word they'd associate with being a ‘real man.’ But when this demographic were also asked in the poll what might stop them from registering as stem cell donors, many thought the procedure would be painful.
“We desperately need more young men to join the register." Henny Braund chief executive of Anthony Nolan said, “There are so many myths that surround stem cell donation. It isn’t necessarily about being ‘brave’, as the process is so straightforward. All you have to do is fill out a simple form and provide a saliva sample. If you are a match for someone, 90% of the time the process is similar to giving blood."
Someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every 20 minutes, you can help save a life by becoming a donor.
So it' time to be a real man and sign up here.