DIY DOCTOR HELPS SURVIVAL CHALLENGE

Since 1974 The Anthony Nolan Trust has helped to give over 4,000 children & adults a new chance of life by finding donors for vital bone marrow transplants. You can help too.......

First Ray Mears, then I’m a Celebrity and now DIY Doctor joins the trail of survival as Simon Saunders signs up for the 2007 Castaway Survival Island Challenge.

This September Simon Saunders, proprietor of Simon Saunders Design and part of DIY Doctor’s creative team, will spend 5 gruelling days eating worms, washing in puddles and sleeping under the stars castaway on an uninhabited island to hopefully raise a minimum of £2,500 to support the life saving work of The Anthony Nolan Trust.

To survive as a castaway, Simon will be required to live off the island scavenging for what food he can while having to win challenges to supplement his frugal diet. With no fresh water, tents or shelters provided, this challenge is open to the autumnal weather adding to the endurance and determination that will be required to succeed.In apprehensive excitement of the challenge ahead, Simon says: “Like so many of us, I’ve

often wondered if I have what it takes to survive and have

been inspired bythose who have stripped their life to the basics and come out the other end. I’m a self-confessed townie and haven’t been camping since I was in the Cubs; so, having the opportunity to fulfil this ambition and take on the challenge while also raising money to help save the lives of people dying or Leukaemia is an opportunity too good to miss.” Click here to help

Mike Edwards, DIY Doctor creator says "We have already received a donation from DPM Supplies for some of the basic survival kit Simon will need for the challenge and we are determined to make this challenge a success for Simon and The Anthony Nolan Trust. There are a great many youngsters out there who need vital bone marrow and anything we can do will be good for their future".

If you would like to support Simon send a cheque (made payable to The Anthony Nolan Trust) to DIY Doctor, FTFC, Berkley Road, Badgers Hill, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2TT. You can also click on this link to pay, securely, on line: www.justgiving.com/SimonSaunders

For further information contact:
Simon Saunders – Simon Saunders Design - 01373 469800
Mike Edwards – DIY Doctor - 08456 342179

Anthony Nolan Trust

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The Anthony Nolan Trust manages and recruits donors to the UK’s most successful bone marrow register to help save the lives of people dying from Leukaemia. The Trust receives over 3,000 requests for transplants every year and over the last five years has offered the gift of life to approximately 1500 children and young adults whose only hope of survival was a bone marrow transplant. No government funding is received to maintain the register, so as an independent charity Anthony Nolan relies on public donations and individual fundraising efforts. It costs £70 to add one new potential life saving donor to the register. Anyone between the ages of 18-40 can join the Bone Marrow Register and the charity would particularly like to hear from young males and ethnic minorities.

Simon Saunders (48) is proprietor of Simon Saunders Design and lives in West Woodlands near Frome. He is married to author and food writer Karen Saunders and has three children, Alice (12), Finlay (3) and Oliver (1).