BANGALORE, September 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
To Thank the 30 Million Donors Worldwide
DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry celebrated the World Marrow Donor Day on 17th September across India. The primary purpose of the celebration was to thank all donors worldwide and highlight the global cooperation in blood stem cell transplantation. Worldwide, blood stem cell donor registries organised different events to emphasize that 30 million donors are still not enough.
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In Bangalore, DATRI in association with Narayana Health City, organized an event to thank the donors who have donated and who are waiting to donate. The auditorium at Narayana Health City was filled with donors, expert physicians in the field of Hemato-Oncology, celebrities, representatives of DATRI blood stem cell donors registry, patients and their families. Renowned Cardiac Surgeon and founder of Narayana Health, Dr. Devi Shetty stressed on the importance of blood stem cell donation and transplantation to save patients with blood cancer. Actors of the recently-released Kannada movie 'Vismaya', J. Karthik (JK) and Sruthi Hariharan took valuable time off from their busy schedule to attend the event. They registered as potential blood stem donors and agreed to be spokespersons for blood stem cell donation in Karnataka. Speaking on the occasion, both JK and Sruthi expressed the need to become blood stem cell donors and the importance of spreading awareness of the cause among the public.
In July, Bangalore witnessed the heart-warming meeting of a blood cancer survivor and a recipient of blood stem cells, Gayathri Gunaranjan, from Hyderabad and her donor, Sivakumar from Chennai. The two met for the first time in a meeting organized by DATRI.
Likewise, in other cities like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Cochin, Rajkot, Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad, massive awareness and registration drives were conducted in various institutions, organisations and among medical professionals.
The need to raise awareness on blood stem cell donation and registering as willing donors in the country is urgent. In 2016 alone, DATRI has about 700+ patients waiting for an unrelated matched donor. The fact is that, only 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 2 million is the probability of finding an unrelated genetically matched blood stem cell donor. Only 25% chances are likely to find a match within the family. Therefore, the only possibility of giving a new lease of life to people suffering from fatal blood disorders such as Leukemia, Thalassemia, Lymphoma etc. is to increase the number of donors, so that their chances of survival could increase.
"We would like to thank every donor who has donated and who is eagerly waiting on the registry to donate. For a patient, getting a new chance at life through the selfless act of a stranger is the greatest gift. Hope of life and getting back loved ones can happen only through such kind donors. We are so glad and thankful that people from different walks of life have come forward to lend us their valuable support through their participation in different activities conducted across the country by DATRI," says Raghu Rajagopal, CEO and Co-Founder of DATRI.
DATRI is a not-for-profit organization registered as a Section 25 company under the Government of India. Co-founded by Mr. Raghu Rajagopal, Dr. Nezih Cereb and Dr. Soo Young Yang in 2009, the vision of the organization is to find a willing matched donor for every patient suffering from fatal blood related disorders and in need of a blood stem cell transplant.
DATRI is India's largest adult unrelated blood stem cell donors registry with over 1,52,000 voluntary donors registered and has facilitated 197 donations till today. DATRI works with 11 collection centers and serviced 39 transplant Centers worldwide. DATRI is an associate of Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW) and a member of World Marrow Donors Association (WMDA).
For more on DATRI, visit http://www.datriworld.org
Media Contact:
Aviini Ashikho
[email protected]
+91-7598145413
Public Relations Coordinator
DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry
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