Gannett journalists on both sides of the Atlantic have lent a helping hand to save the life of a young English woman with a killer disease.

The Evening Press in York, part of Gannett’s British division Newsquest, launched a Race for a Donor campaign in 1999 to help leukaemia-sufferer Nicola Coates find a desperately-needed bone marrow donor.

Scores of readers – and several reporters – joined the Anthony Nolan Trust’s register of potential bone marrow donors, as well as backing a fund-raising drive for the charity.

None of the volunteers was a match for Nicola, but then an American was found who fitted the bill and his marrow was flown to Britain and transplanted into Nicola in the spring, 2000.

She made a good recovery but was unable to trace her donor because of strict transplant anonymity rules.

The ban was recently relaxed, and Nicola discovered her donor was a journalist, who had joined an American register of donors in 1987 after writing a story about a young woman who needed a transplant.

Scott Wittchow, (51), is now managing editor of Action Advertiser in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, which only days ago was bought by Gannett.

Scott says he feels “really blessed” that he was matched with someone who needed his marrow. “Finally finding out who she is and where she is from has truly been a most wonderful life experience.”

The father-of-two said he hoped to one day meet Nicola, as she seemed to be a special individual – “brave, friendly, committed and a member of a truly supporting family.”

He said he had never had any doubts about going through the transplant procedure, which had not caused him any great discomfort or caused any scars or after-effects.

He said: “To have the opportunity to help someone certainly outweighed a few hours or even days of discomfort. I can tell you that if asked again to give bone marrow, I would do it in a split second.”

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