An army veteran hopes he can save a woman's life by donating his stem cells.

Jack Griffiths signed up to the Anthony Nolan register to be a donor when he joined the army in 2011.

Eight years later he received the call to say that he was a match for a woman with blood cancer, and he now has the chance to save her life when he has the procedure on November 21.

Now the 25-year-old, from Silverdale, wants to encourage other men to sign up to the register as they are currently underrepresented.

The dad-of-one said: "I signed up to the register when I joined the forces in 2011, it was something I'd always wanted to do, I asked a lot of questions and then said yes.

"Then around three months ago I received a phone call saying I was a positive match. It is quite rare that you become a match so I thought it was a hoax call because I couldn't remember signing up until they explained.

"I lost my nana to cancer and my grandad passed away from Alzheimer's last week so when I had the phone call I thought if I can help somebody then I want to do it.

"I've got a five-year-old girl and at that point you don't know who the match is for, it could have been for a girl my daughter's age.

"The Anthony Nolan charity have told me I'm donating to an adult woman, they've clearly explained everything and are very understanding. It's a small procedure, you have a course of injections for four days before the actual transplant day.

"On the day of the procedure you have a tube in one arm which drains every bit of blood out of your body and filters all of the white cells out of your blood.

"Then the tube in the other arm puts the blood back in, it takes around six hours. I've done my research and the worst thing that can happen from the procedure is that your spleen can rupture but other than that there's been 35,000 stem cell donations and there's never been a fatal.

"You can have the procedure in three hospitals London, Sheffield or Manchester. They put you up in a hotel, they pay for food, travel expenses and your day's wages if you've had to come out of work.

"Before the procedure you can sign a piece of paper to keep in touch with the person you have donated to and if the other person says they want to as well you can meet up after two years.

"I would like to stay in touch with her, it's going to be a life saving procedure if everything goes succesfully. I really hope the procedure will be succesful."

Jack says you can sign up to the register if you are aged between 16 and 30.

The Bet365 employee said: "Only two per cent of the UK are registered as donors and 40,000 people who have blood cancer are waiting for people who could be a match.

"I want more people to sign up to the register and knock the numbers down from 40,000 as best as possible and save more lives. You can sign up if you are aged between 16 and 30.

"Since I've signed up some of my friends have also signed up straight away."

Alice Hirst, Regional Register Development Manager at Anthony Nolan, said: "Its incredible that, by signing up to the Anthony Nolan register in 2011 Jack is giving a patient, somewhere in the world, in desperate need of a stem cell transplant a second chance of life in 2019.

"Its a unique act of altruism which shows that every person who joins the Anthony Nolan register has the potential to give hope to somebody with blood cancer or a blood disorder.

"Wed like to thank Jack and are calling on other young men aged 16-30 and in good general health to consider joining the Anthony Nolan register. More than 50 per cent of donors in the UK are young men, however they make up just 18 per cent of our register.

"Were encouraging people to find out more by visiting our website, anthonynolan.org/jack, and see how you can go on standby to save a life."

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Army veteran to save woman with blood cancer through stem cell donation - Stoke-on-Trent Live