On Tuesday 4 November, we had the pleasure of welcoming volunteers from the Association of Bone Marrow Donors (ADMO) to our headquarters. They came to inform and raise awareness about their activities and the importance of registering with the Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Through donation, it is possible to fight leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers.

After a brief introduction by Dr Fabrizio Motta, in which he presented key data on transplants in Italy, Europe and worldwide and provided some basic information, Giada shared her personal experience with us, describing the process of discovering and healing her illness. It is not the right place to go into details, but it was certainly a particularly touching moment that emotionally affected everyone present: when we think for even a few moments about what it means to go through the different stages of such illnesses, not only for the person directly affected (who is not even thirty years old) but also for her whole family and loved ones, it is impossible to remain indifferent. By registering with the Donor Registry, it is possible to give hope to many people, often young men and women in the prime of their life and, sadly, many children too.

The meeting ended with a few questions for Giuseppe, the ADMO representative, who was happy to answer all our questions. However, the most important moment of the whole day took place shortly afterwards, when our younger colleagues, aged between 18 and 36 (the age limits for registering), decided to apply to become potential donors.

Beyond the many fine words that can be said, often circumstantial and saturated with rather sterile rhetoric, we believe that the gesture of our young colleagues has a much greater significance: you certainly did not do it to receive our praise, but we are all very proud of you!

Finally, a special thanks to Anna Mori, our colleague who organised the meeting. Information and awareness are the first steps towards trying to improve things: thanks to her, CGM has been able to make its contribution.