A CALDICOT man is encouraging people to sign up as a blood cell donor after he found he was a very rare match for a patient.

Sam Baugh originally joined the blood cell donor register for Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei, abbreviated as DKMS, in 2018 during a routine hospital stay.

He said: “I was asked to do a swab and have some bloods taken, and told that there was a small possibility I might get a call in the future that I am a match for someone.”

In June of this year, he got a call saying he might be a potential rare match for someone with blood cancer, with further tests confirming this to be the case.

Mr Baugh said he’s really been focusing on life in recent years. “Since having my little boy, my perspective on life has changed. This gave me the push to go forward.

“I couldn’t imagine any of my family or friends going through what my patient was going through so to give someone a chance at life was a no brainer.”

After tests confirmed he was a match, a lengthy process began, involving sending Mr Baugh up to a hospital in London for medical checks. He then had to self-administer three specialist injections into his stomach for four days prior to donation which stimulated the bone marrow in his blood.

He returned to the London hospital to complete his donation, which was a resounding success. The patient required five million cells, and Mr Baugh was able to donate 10 million.

Since the donation, he has had an update on the condition of the patient, who he has been told is doing well after the transplant.

He is due to receive further updates every three months.

He said: “I feel very proud of what I have done and knowing that I have hopefully changed this person’s life. I hope some normality returns to their life, and their family, especially in time for Christmas.”

Following the success of his donation, Mr Baugh is strongly advising fellow healthy people to sign up to the blood cell donor register. “I one hundred per cent recommend people sign up – it’s such a minor inconvenience to yourself but could make so much difference to someone else and their family.”