Del, left, and Emma Currie with a friend at the Old Ivy House in Clerkenwell, which is set to host a donor drive tomorrow (Saturday)

IF pubs can host quizzes, open-mic nights and dog shows, why not stem cell donor drives as well?

This was Del Currie’s thinking when he found out his wife Emma, 56, needed a transplant for increasingly aggressive blood cancer.

“From the day we found out about her new diagnosis, we’ve been in limbo,” said the couple’s daughter, Jordan Perata, who runs an environmentally friendly food shop in Holloway Road with her mum.

“We’re trying our best to live our lives, but it’s always in the back of your mind. I have an 18-month-old daughter named Wren, and she and mum totally adore each other. She is just the best grandma, and has all of this family that want her to be around for a long time.”

After Emma’s condition worsened, the family concocted a “masterplan” to find a stem cell match for her – including hosting donor drives at the Holloway Road store and at Mr Currie’s Clerkenwell pub, the Old Ivy House, tomorrow (Saturday).

All it takes is a simple cheek swab.

Mr Currie said: “We thought at first we’d have to get everyone in at noon for their first swab when they’re sober, but turns out it doesn’t matter. You can eat and drink and it doesn’t affect the swab.

Emma Currie with her granddaughter Wren

“Half of it is raising awareness – all of the bar staff in the pub have ordered their kits online and done it in advance. For the stragglers, it’s just saying that we’ll be in the pub on Saturday, you’re always in the pub on Saturday, so you’re getting swabbed.”

While the family was scrambling to sign people up to the register, Emma’s doctors said they had found two matches – one in Germany and one in the UK.

Mr Currie said: “We were like, ‘What?’ Emma just burst into tears, it was such a relief.

“She’s very lucky because some people are just sitting on the register waiting, so we decided to continue with the whole plan. Emma’s been fortunate enough that someone has come to her rescue. If we can find someone to come to the rescue of someone else, it’s a no-brainer for us.”

According to the blood cancer charity DKMS, only 60 per cent of patients find a donor on the register.

And although the procedure has a fearsome reputation, bone marrow transplants are not the invasive surgeries they used to be – at least not for the donors, for whom it is as simple as giving blood.

Mr Currie added: “The beauty of this is, if Emma comes out the other side of it and everything works, she’ll be cancer free. That’s her completely sorted, and we can return to normal life again.”

The couple have been married for 37 years, tying the knot just 11 months after they met at the age of 18.

“It was love at first sight,” Mr Currie said. “We’re just lucky.”

More than just pints and a queue to swab, Saturday’s donor drive at the Old Ivy House will include a raffle and snacks, courtesy of Mr Currie, whose season-your-own crisps business, Spudos, won investment from Dragons’ Den business moguls Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones earlier this year. The pub will also donate 10 per cent of the day’s takings to the blood cancer charity DKMS.