March 2014 – John D Eccles

My wife and I have known Sheila for over twenty five years and during that time we have shared all sorts of experiences that have made us both laugh and cry together in equal measure. Now Sheila is one of life’s troopers. She never complains and is always there to help anyone who needs it, and very rarely asks for anything in return, other than a thank you.

The last six months have been a challenge for this lady. In November last year she was diagnosed with Leukaemia, bad news by any measure, and since then she has been through various courses of Chemotherapy and spent endless weeks in Hospital.

Not once has she complained with her lot. When we visit she is alway very positive and talks about getting better rather than how ill she must feel. So this weekend we went to see her at home, to catch up with what’s happening in Sheila’s world. She and her husband explained that the situation had now changed, and without a bone marrow transplant the prognosis isn’t very promising.

So like any friend, I immediately volunteered to put my name on the transplant list as a donor. But here is the kicker – I am to old. Donors need to be between the ages of 16 and 30.

Here is the problem.

Every 20 minutes in the UK, someone like Sheila are told they have a blood cancer such as leukaemia and for many of these people a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant is their only chance.

They need cells from a healthy person – with the same tissue type – to replace and repair their own damaged cells.

About 30% of people in need can find a suitable donor in their family. But the other 70% rely on a stranger to save their lives.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is the organisation that helps that 70% to find those precious matches.

The Trust has over 500,000 donors on it’s register and they are constantly working to increase that number. Every time someone needs a transplant the register is checked for a match and they make more than 1,000 matches every year.

Now thats not great odds – in betting terms thats 500-1, but when you need a transplant any odds are better than none! To reduce those odds more people need to register and become donors. So here is my challenge to everyone who will read this.

What is needed is people between the ages of 16 – 30, or parents of these people to visit the Anthony Nolan website and register an interest in becoming a donor. It is easy and more importantly its painless. Your results will be put on a register with the other half a million other people. If you are a match, you will be contacted. It may happen or equally it may never happen, but if it does think of the difference you can make to someones life.

I will be championing this cause with every ounce of energy I have, not only because of Sheila but because I hope I can make a difference and help someone who really needs it.

So before you dismiss this without a second thought, what would you do if Sheila was your friend!

Also just think about how awesome it would be to know you have saved someones life.

Please have a look and see how you could help. http://www.anthonynolan.org

Anyone who knows me will know of my passion for live music. I find it amazing that a group of people can create something far more than the individual component parts. I have been to two concerts this week and even by my standards thats fairly rare.

The first one was on Thursday at the Arena in Manchester, watching Michael Buble with Ann, we booked the tickets before Christmas and she had been getting more and more excited the nearer to the concert it got. Now I have to say that I am indifferent to Mr Buble and I can take him or leave him, to Ann however I can make my mind up weather Its him or the music she is crazy about, but I went to make sure she didn’t get lost or end up stalking him on his way to the tour bus.

I was however pleasantly surprised to see that the guy is just as good live as he is on his albums. The show was nothing short of brilliant, with at least £2m worth of stage, screen an PA. His band were as you would expect fantastic. It made the £120 for tickets, £12.00 parking and £20.00 for a programme seem almost worth it.

On Saturday came the second of my concerts, this one was for me. Caravan a Prog Rock outfit from the early Seventies were playing at the Picturedrome in Holmfirth, not quite an Arena gig but its a great place to watch live music. When I booked the tickets I asked Ann if she wanted a ticket, to which the reply was “is it that strange stuff you listen too when you are in the car”, Cheeky sod.

So I phoned my brother who decided it might be fun to go back and spend a couple of hours back in 1972 and listen to the Band. So for a quarter of the price of Mr Buble we journeyed over the moors, traveled back in time and started reminiscing about Trench Coats and taking Your Latest Album under your arm just in case someone needed to listen to some music.

It also got us talking about communication and how we all kept in touch without mobile phones, that seems an awful long time ago, in fact to be precise 40 years ago.

So we arrived in Holmfirth and Immediately it felt like we had travelled back in time, We had no phone signal let alone wireless and somehow according to the sat nav the place doesn’t exist. I thought that it was a touch of marketing genius to make it just like the seventies, but on asking the bartender at the venue he said its always like that. So we ordered a couple of beers and sat down for a quick catch up.

Looking at the table next to us was a guy with grey hair and his wife having a drink. When I glanced over i thought I recognised him nodded and he nodded back and we carried on chatting. Then it was time to hit the venue next door. The Picturedrome is a fantastic music venue, all sorts of people play the venue just because of its atmosphere.

So the time had come, we were about to see a Band who at the hight of there popularity had a Sixty Piece orchestra backing them. Can I say that they were fantastic, they played all my old favourites and some new stuff thrown in for good measure. I even saw a guy with an Album under his arm, but we were to polite to point and laugh.

Now all I can say is that these guys are now well into the sixties and can still perform a two hour set without breaking sweat. (apart from the young drummer who was very ambitious). It was great to see heroes from your teenage years still performing and having a go.

So if I can just take you back to the guy in the Bar, It was a surprise to me that when the band came on the stage I discovered it was the Keyboard Player. I can remember him when he had long dark hair and an Afghan coat. Thats probably why I only half recognised him and he obviously did the same comparison with me.

So the point of this ramble is If you are lucky enough you should always try to check out the Bands from your youth, they have the ability to transport you through time in the blink of an eye. It is the music you listened to then that has made you the person you are today which according to my wife is miserable and grumpy!