A WOMAN from Ellesmere Port has received national recognition for her unwavering drive to encourage more people at her work to become stem cell donors.

Nichola Cook received the Company Donor Recruitment Award at the 'Let's Make A Spark' awards ceremony, hosted and run by international blood cancer charity, DKMS.

The ceremony, held at the Shard in London on March 20, celebrated the charity’s achievements and acknowledged the work of its supporters.

Nichola’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness of DKMS, and encourage more people to become stem cell donors, began after her mother was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2017.

Nichola, who lives in Great Sutton and works at M&S Bank in Chester, said: “To be recognised like this was truly an honour. When my mum was diagnosed with Leukaemia last year, it made me realise that life is extremely precious so I wanted to let people know that they could help save lives by taking just five minutes to register as a stem cell donor.

“Anyone aged 17 to 55 can register to be a donor at www.dkms.org.uk and my mum is here today because someone did just that.”

Nichola and her employer fended off competition from heavyweights Now TV and Williams Formula 1 to win the Company Donor Recruitment Award.

Sue Fox, CEO of M&S Bank, added: “Nichola has encouraged so many people across M&S Bank to register to become stem cell donors – myself included – and I was delighted that she won the Company Donor Recruitment award at DKMS’s annual awards ceremony.

“Through her actions, Nichola has made a huge difference to the lives of so many, she is an incredibly deserving winner and I’m very proud of everything she has achieved.”

Someone in the UK is diagnosed with a form of blood cancer every 20 minutes and there are more than 2,000 people looking for a potentially lifesaving blood stem cell donor each year.

To make this happen, DKMS (an international, non-profit organisation) works to raise awareness of stem cell donation, raise funds to match donor registration costs, and improve blood cancer therapies through its own research. It currently has more than 7.5 million potential donors registered.