London Firefighter Docked Wages After Taking Leave to Donate Bone Marrow to Cancer Victim

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

A firefighter who took time off to donate bone marrow to a teenage girl dying of cancer was docked a week's worth of wages, a London paper reported.

After learning he was a match for a teenage girl who suffered from leukemia, Mark McCracken, 43, applied for special leave. McCracken, his colleagues and the firefighter's union were outraged when they heard the selfless firefighter would not be given pay while on leave, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

"It is ironic that a large part of our job is about saving lives and the lad has saved someone's life and he is being punished," Steve Harman, a member of the firefighter's union, told the Daily Mail.

The national bone marrow register to treat leukaemia reimbursed Mark for his lost wages.