SALISBURY MP John Glen is set to save a blood cancer patient’s life by donating stem cells today.

The patient, who cannot be named, would certainly have died without Mr Glen’s help, but now has a fighting chance at survival.

It is likely the Tory MP is the only registered match in the world.

He became a potential donor at a Love Hope Strength recruitment drive in Parliament in June 2013.

Last year he discovered that against the odds he had been matched with a patient who desperately needed his help to survive.

Mr Glen said: “It is a huge privilege to be asked to donate some of my blood stem cells to someone with a blood cancer who is in desperate need of them.

“I would encourage everyone in my constituency of Salisbury and throughout the UK to sign up to the Delete Blood Cancer UK register directly to go on standby to be a donor one day.

“On signing up myself I never thought I would hear from them again, but now I have this amazing opportunity for what is simply only a little discomfort to me.”

He has undergone a series of injections to prepare his system, and today (Wednesday 28) Mr Glen will donate stem cells at a four–hour clinic in London.

Just less than a million people in the UK are registered as potential donors.

Delete Blood Cancer UK’s Deirdra Taylor said: “Less than half of those in the UK in need of a lifesaving blood stem cell donation find a matching donor.

“Therefore, the patient who John is donating some of his blood stem cells to today is very lucky that he took a few minutes a year and a half ago to register to donate some of his.

“That patient needs them for their survival and John is likely to be the only person registered who had a matching tissue-type to the patient.

“It highlights how crucial it is for people register to save a life and that they are made aware that they can give the gift of life that John is giving today.”

Co-founder of Love Hope Strength Foundation, rock singer and two-time cancer survivor Mike Peters said: “Love Hope Strength has campaigned for years to raise the age of donors in the UK from 30 to 55, and through partnership with Delete Blood Cancer UK, can now offer this opportunity to blood cancer patients hoping to find a match.

“With one in two people in the UK not being able to find a donor, John’s story highlights the need for as many people as possible to be registered so that everyone, everywhere who needs a donor, can find one.”