TRAINING had a new look - and much more significance - today with players and coaches swapping regular club apparel for Australian Red Cross Blood Service tops.

Coach Alan Richardson said St Kilda made the change to honour the wish of Nick Riewoldt’s younger sister, Madeleine, to raise awareness of registering as a bone marrow donor and donating blood.

Madeleine passed away this week aged just 26, after a five-year battle fighting Aplastic Anaemia.

“Clearly it was a real tragedy and our heart goes out to Nick and the family because there is no doubt it’s been really tough for them,” Richardson said.

“We’ve filtered through to the home and had an opportunity to sit and give the family our best wishes. The family has certainly taken some comfort in the response to Maddie’s fight and the response from the public in terms of the bone marrow and blood donations.

“The players wore the singlets today, in consultation with Rooey and the family, and we’ll do whatever we can.”

RELATED: Riewoldt family statement

Darren McClure from Red Cross said more than 27,000 blood donations are needed each week and that they need people to make regular donations.

“We’ve seen a huge response already which is absolutely fantastic,” McClure said.

“They key thing with blood donation is that it does have a shelf life. So for those who are looking to ring up and get an appointment… we don’t need all the blood right now, we need it consistently.”

 People can sign up to the Bone Marrow registry at www.abmdr.org.au and/or arrange to donate blood at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service at www.donateblood.com.au or by calling 13 14 95.

Red Cross said you can also become a bone marrow donor simply by contacting the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to make an appointment to donate blood, and tell the consultant that you also wish to join the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

An additional sample will be taken during your blood donation and sent for analysis to the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

VIDEO: Alan Richardson press conference

Not only will your blood donation help to save as many as three lives, you could also be the perfect match for a person in need of a bone marrow transplant.

Right now, Australia is focussing on two key aspects of bone marrow recruitment:

  • Young bone marrow donors aged between 18 and 30 as patients do better with bone marrow cells from younger donors; and
  • Recruiting donors from a variety of ethnic backgrounds as a successful match is often linked to people’s ancestry.

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