Shirley Nolan
Shirley Nolan | |
---|---|
Born | Shirley Oakey 10 February 1942 |
Died | 3 December 2001 Fairview Park, South Australia, Australia | (aged 59)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | teacher |
Known for | The charity she founded made transplants possible for 4,000 people. |
Shirley Nolan or Shirley Oakey (10 February 1942 – 3 December 2001) was a British teacher who set up the
Life
Nolan was born in
In 1971 her son, Anthony Nolan, was born. He was quickly diagnosed with Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome, a rare inherited blood disorder.[3]
In 1974 she founded the Anthony Nolan Register,[3] based at the Westminster Children's Hospital
Nolan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The disease would not necessarily be fatal, but she was very ill with an increasingly poor quality of life. She criticised regulators who were not allowing stem cells to be used in research into a cure for Parkinson disease and she joined the Euthanasia Society.[1]
Death and legacy
Nolan died in Fairview Park in Australia, having succeeded at the second attempt to take her own life. She described her first attempt to take her life as "botched" and emergency medics created her recovery despite her written instructions. She was denied further painkillers but her friends knew that she intended to try again. Because they could not be implicated as accomplices, Shirley died alone using another cocktail of drugs.[1]
The charity that she founded made transplants possible for 4,000 people. When she died there were 50 similar registers to her own recording the bone marrow details of 7 million people.[2]
The Anthony Nolan Register moved to St Mary Abbots Hospital in 1978 and to offices and research institute in north London, in the grounds of the Royal Free Hospital. The charity was renamed in 2001 as the Anthony Nolan Trust and again in 2010 to "Anthony Nolan".[3]
In 2008 the "Anthony Nolan" charity created the UK's first cord blood bank, allowing mothers to donate the blood from their umbilical cord and placenta after they give birth,[4] to use this blood in stem cell transplants.[4]
References
- ^ required.)
- ^ ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
- ^ a b c "Our History". AnthonyNolan.org. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Our History". Anthony Nolan. Retrieved 23 May 2014.