THE South Wales Argus has rallied all Newsquest newspapers across the country to throw their support behind the search for a bone marrow donor for a young Newport boy. 

Marley Nicholls, six, is battling a rare blood condition aplastic anaemia and doctors have warned that without a bone marrow transplant he could die in the next few years.

We have shown our support to Marley by covering fundraising events, explaining how people can become donors, getting reporters to sign up as potential donors, and have now gone another step further.

South Wales Argus:

We have asked all Newsquest papers, in excess of 200 of them to run Marley’s story and to encourage their readers to sign up for the Anthony Nolan Trust to see if they could be a match for him.

This comes when earlier this week we revealed that, despite 10,000 people signing up as bone marrow donors, a match has not been found.

South Wales Argus editor Nicole Garnon said: “It seemed the obvious thing to do to try to use our network of papers across the country to help spread Marley’s story.

“We have papers right across the UK from Scotland to Cornwall, the south coast and of course other parts of Wales. 

“We hope by getting coverage of the Marrow for Marley campaign in all these titles will help find a donor. 

“The response from editors across the country has been great. so fingers crossed.”

South Wales Argus:

Mum Shaney Truman said the family would be “forever grateful for Newsquest’s help”.

“I cannot believe that the South Wales Argus has managed to do this,” she said. “I am in shock and taken aback. It is an amazing thing for you to do.
“The family will forever be grateful for this. Having awareness across the country will definitely make a difference.”

And Joe Nicholls, who is Marley’s father, added: “This is a wonderful thing for people to do.

“What we have found so moving is that random people have been in touch who want to help save Marley. So far a match has not been found for Marley, but we know that person is out there somewhere.”

Karen Archer, who is the regional development manager in Wales for Anthony Nolan charity, said: “We are doing everything we can to support Marley and his family in their search for a lifesaving stem cell donor.

"Every day, five people, like Marley, will start their search for a matching stranger who might save their life.

"The support of Newsquest is fantastic, and is helping to raise crucial awareness of this important appeal.

"Every single person who signs up has the potential to help save someone like Marley, and it’s incredible that over 10,000 people have signed up to the Anthony Nolan register since his appeal was launched.

However, we urgently need more people to sign up to help people, like Marley, who are in desperate need of a lifesaving stem cell transplant.”


People will be able to join the donor register during a session which is to be held in the Cwmbran Centre on Saturday, September 8 from 11am.


Follow the campaign at facebook.com/marrowformarley.