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Monday 4 February 2013 Issue 1263 Free
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HAIL THE RETURN OF PUZZLES, p.40 2
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Third year Biomedical Sciences student needs bone marrow donor Register as a potential life-saver with a quick ‘spit’ test at a Marrow clinic
By Ben Travis Editor Within our University’s student population lies a potential life-saver. We’re not talking your course friend who lends you those lecture notes you lost at the last minute, or the flatmate who’s already got the kettle on when you come in from a hard day. No – this is someone who could actually save the life of a fellow student. And there’s one student in particular who’s in need of that lifeline. Martin Solomon is a 20-year-old third year Biomedical Sciences student who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. He’d previously fought off the illness in December 2007, but relapsed in August 2012 and has had his studies put on hold since. Martin is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. All he needs is to find a compatible match. Anthony Nolan, a UK blood cancer charity, is currently searching for a compatible donor through their Marrow campaigning group, but so far none have been found. Because Martin is mixed-race, his chances of finding a match have been halved to 40%. The odds may be difficult, but there is still a strong chance that the right person can be found. And it very well may be you. So how can you do your bit? Well, the main thing you can do is sign up to the Marrow Newcastle register – it’s a quick, easy process. Get all thoughts of needles and blood tests out of your mind – signing up involves filling in a form of basic details and providing a sample of saliva. Just spitting into a tube. It’s as simple as that. Marrow Newcastle is an official society of the Students’ Union and is utterly dedicated to getting people to sign-up to the register and put themselves down as a potential bone marrow match for Martin and other patients needing a donor.
They are currently hosting a series of clinics, which aren’t as scary as they sound - they’re pop-up stalls where within 15 minutes you can be all signed-up and back to going about your day. A series of these clinics will be taking place over the next few weeks – the next confirmed clinic will be on 25 February at Castle Leazes. Details of more clinics, as well as fundraisers to buy the testing kits, will be announced via The Courier’s social media platforms and weekly in the newspaper. You can also order a ‘spit kit’ online at www.anthonynolan.org The more people that sign up, the better. However, there are a few factors that could heighten your chances of being a match for Martin: you must be between 16-30 to sign up, but if you’re also male and mixed race, there’s an even stronger possibility that you could be the person Martin needs to give him the lifeline that could see him live out his life with the rest of us. And what after that, if you find out that you are a match? Isn’t bone marrow donation all needles and pain? No – in fact, 90% of the time, it’s a course of a few injections in your arm and then a few hours hooked up to a blood-spinning machine. Apparently you’ll feel a big groggy for a day or so, but nothing worse than that hangover you get each time you revel in the joys of CCTV on Saturday nights. And because you can see it through every weekend after a heavy night on the Toon, you can do it to save somebody’s life. We’ve all been through the struggle of getting to University, battling through essays, exams, application forms and personal statements. Martin’s been through all this and more – together as Newcastle University students, I urge you to sign up and encourage others to do likewise, so that we can do our best to find a #match4martin.
Can you save Martin’s life? News p.4
Photo: Anthony Nolan and Manchester Evening News
Accusations of University Twitter censorship By Anna Templeton News Editor A postgraduate student has accused the University of trying to censor his freedom of speech after being warned about a statement he made on Twitter.
Tristan Pithers, who is currently studying for a PGCE in secondary education, tweeted criticism about one of his lectures being politically biased. The tweet in question, posted on 15 January, read: “Lectures here should end ‘That was a party political broadcast
by the Labour Party’. So unprofessionally biased. #newcastle”. The day after the tweet was posted, a lecturer on Tristan’s course gave a talk about responsible use of social media. The students, all training to be continued on page 5