Chris Gordon, a 43-year-old former RAF Chinook pilot who saved 31 lives during a firefight in Afghanistan and was decorated by Queen Elizabeth II with the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2013, has been diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia—a rare, life-threatening blood disorder in which the bone marrow cannot produce new blood cells. He now urgently requires a stem cell transplant and has launched a public appeal, working with the blood cancer charity DKMS to encourage potential donors to register.

Gordon needs to find a full-match donor within the next few months and is currently receiving blood transfusions twice weekly whilst waiting. His ethnic heritage—he is half Jamaican—makes finding a match more challenging, as ethnic minorities remain underrepresented on stem cell donor registers. The charity emphasises that registering is a simple process involving health questions and cheek swabs, and that most registered donors are never called upon; however, for someone like Gordon, the right person stepping forward could save his life.