Rock star Mike Peters recruits bone marrow donors in US

Mike Peters created the Love Hope Strength Foundation with fellow leukaemia survivor James Chippendale, a music executive from Texas

A Welsh rock star has taken his bone marrow donor drive to Washington DC.

Mike Peters, lead singer of The Alarm, is encouraging US congressmen and senators to 'Get On The List' on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Three-time cancer survivor Mr Peters co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation in 2007 to encourage more people to sign up as potential lifesavers.

The US visit follows a similar recruitment drive in Westminster.

Ahead of the event, Mr Peters encouraged people in the USA to write to their local representative asking them to attend the donor drive at Capitol Visitor Centre.

Potential donors fill out a consent form and have their cheeks swabbed. Their details are then stored anonymously on an international bone marrow registry until they are 61-years-old.

It is hoped the event will grow the number of US donors and improve the chances of finding matches for patients suffering from a blood borne cancer or illness.

Mr Peters said the foundation has been campaigning for this day for many years.

"It is so exciting to feel that all the hard work and effort, made possible with the support of DKMS - We Delete Blood Cancer, and so many others, is finally coming to fruition," he said.

"People are realising that one day it could be someone that they know who needs a bone marrow donor, and the more people that are on the list, the better everyone's chances of finding an unrelated donor area."

The event in the House of Commons in 2013 registered more than 100 MPs and staff members, and MP John Glen became a lifesaving match a few months later.