A man is encouraging people to register as blood stem cell donors after his decision to do so saved someone’s life.

Sean Parsons, 25, of Swanley, signed up to blood cancer charity DKMS after his friend lost a loved one to leukaemia.

Within months he had received a call to say he was a potential life-saving match.

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Mr Parsons, who has since become one of the faces of the charity’s ‘Swab to be a Lifesaver’ campaign, said: “When I got the call to donate, I can hand-on-heart say it was one of the proudest moments of my life.

“I was so happy to know that I could save someone’s life. When I told my friends and family that I’d been matched they were elated.”

The car technician initially registered through the DKMS website and received his home swab kit. After returning the kit his details were added to the UK Aligned Stem Cell Registry.

He added: “My donation took a few hours and all I had to do was lie in bed. Everyone made me feel very comfortable.

“It couldn’t have been easier. After the donation was completed, my blood stem cells were transported immediately to my match and I was on my way home by lunchtime.

"I’m supporting DKMS because if you can potentially save someone’s life it doesn’t make any sense why you wouldn’t.

“It feels like one of my greatest triumphs and I would encourage everyone who can to register. I hope I can be a match again to help another person.”

"I’m supporting DKMS because if you can potentially save someone’s life it doesn’t make any sense why you wouldn’t" - Sean Parsons

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer, such as leukaemia. It is the third most common cause of cancer death yet less than half of the population are clear what it is.

A donation from a genetically similar person can often be the best hope of survival, but only a third of people in need of a transplant will find a matching donor in their own family.

More than 300,000 people have already registered as potential donors with DKMS but only 5% are of South Asian heritage and less than 3% of donors are black – making it especially hard to find matches for people from these ethnicities.