A Haringey Councillor is celebrating his 65th birthday by running the London Marathon.

David Schmitz is supporting the 20th anniversary appeal of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, a Bounds Green based charity which benefits people far beyond, by encouraging potential bone marrow/stem cell donors to place themselves onto the National Donor Registers.

It concentrates its efforts among communities where there is a shortage of donors and where the outlook for patients is correspondingly worse.

When it comes to finding matching donors, the odds for a patient from the Mediterranean are about one third of those for a patient from northern Europe, and the odds for patients from Africa or Asia are even worse.

The Society also provides accommodation and other support for people who come to London for medical treatment and who cannot afford to keep themselves, it provides trained counsellors to help patients and their families to deal with diagnosis, to support them during treatment and, where sadly this is necessary, to cope with bereavement.

It also funds medical research.

Cllr Schmitz says, “We must do whatever we can to give as many patients as possible a chance to survive. The Society’s work needs every support, and I’m glad to give it by devoting a significant birthday of mine, to a significant one of theirs.”

Anyone wanting to donate can do so via www.justgiving.com/David-Schmitz or directly to the Society on www.leukaemiacancersociety.org