On May 28, it’s time to show support for people with blood cancer.
Every 27 seconds, someone in the world is diagnosed with blood cancer. A blood stem cell transplant from a donor is the best chance at a cure for many patients. Yet not everyone has an available match–either a family donor or an unrelated donor.
There are three ways to help:
- Register as a blood stem cell donor with DKMS or other blood stem cell donor registries.
- Raise money to add more people to worldwide registries and to help patients as they pursue transplant.
- Spread the word about the need for more blood stem cell donors, especially for those who have the most challenging time finding a match.
Registering as a donor is easy if you meet health guidelines–fill out an online health history questionnaire and swab the inside of your cheek with a swab kit mailed to your home. Not everyone will match and be asked to donate to a patient. But if you are called to donate, you'll donate in one of two ways:
- Peripheral blood stem cell donation, which is now about 90 percent of donations, is a nonsurgical procedure similar to donating plasma or platelets. Donors are given injections of a drug called filgrastim for five days leading up to donation. This increases the number of blood-forming cells in the donor's bloodstream. On the day of donation, blood is removed from one arm, passed through a machine to collect the blood-forming cells, and the remaining blood is returned through a needle in the other arm.
- Traditional bone marrow donation–10 percent of donations–is a surgical procedure that takes place in a hospital operating room. Donors are under anesthesia and feel no pain during the donation, which removes liquid marrow through the back of the pelvic bone.
If you’re chosen as a match for a patient, there’s a good chance your blood stem cells will travel to the patient’s bedside with the help of Peli BioThermal temperature-controlled packaging. The Peli BioThermal Crēdo ProMed™ carry bag safely delivers blood, platelets, blood stem cells and more to patients.
To learn more about blood cancer and to help patients, visit DKMS’s World Blood Cancer Day website.
