A young Sutherland nurse with a rare blood disorder yesterday thanked potential bone marrow donors who could help save her life.
Michaela Ballantyne, 25, of Brora, was diagnosed with myelodysplasia at the start of August after spending six weeks in isolation at Raigmore Hospital.
The condition affects the production of bone marrow.
She and her family have led a campaign to recruit new donors to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register.
The Anthony Nolan Campaign uses its register to match potential bone marrow donors to blood cancer patients in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.
Firefighters from Inverness joined MSP Rhoda Grant and Miss Ballantyne’s family at the shopping centre to encourage members of the public aged 16 and 30 to sign up.
Clinics for the young nurse have previously been held in Brora, Dornoch and Golspie, where more than 60 people signed up.
Miss Ballantyne, who is travelling to hospital twice a week for blood transfusions, said: “The support I have had has been really good. I am so overwhelmed with the support and I did not expect it but everyone has been great. The communities all came together and you can not go anywhere now without anyone asking how I am doing.
“The last two months have not been very good and at times I have been really sickly but I have held up a bit this last week.
“Today has been great. I knew they said the fire service were going to be here but thought it was just word of mouth. It means so much to have them showing their support and it has made it a bit easier. The police have been very supportive too.”
Firefighter Will Ford, 30, who registered yesterday afternoon, said: “It is fantastic to be able to help and it takes nothing at all to do it.
“The cut off is 30 and I am about to turn 31, so it made sense to do it before I went over the cut off point.”
Miss Ballantyne’s mother, Karen Macleod, said: “They just need to fill in a form and spit in a test tube and that is them. To donate the marrow it is actually like giving blood, where they do an injection and extract it from the blood and then it is put back in.”