Delete Blood Cancer DKMS Celebrates November's National Bone Marrow Awareness Month

NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Delete Blood Cancer – part of the world's largest network of bone marrow donor centers – announces the start of National Marrow Awareness Month. As the start of the "giving season," November provides a timely opportunity to highlight the dire need for bone marrow donors in the United States, and how each person has the potential to give a patient suffering from blood cancer or other blood diseases a chance to live a healthy, long life.

"Each year in the U.S., there are nearly 13,000 patients in need of a bone marrow transplant who rely on the registry to find a donor," said Katharina Harf, co-founder of Delete Blood Cancer. "Sadly, less than half of those patients will receive a transplant. There are not enough potential donors in the registry to constitute genetic matches." 

Delete Blood Cancer believes that no life should be lost due to an inability to find a donor match. Thus, the organization works with families, communities and organizations to increase the number of suitable donors in the registry and ultimately, provide more patients with a second chance at life. Much of this work includes dispelling common myths about the donation process, and celebrating how donations from benevolent strangers have the potential to save thousands of lives each year.

"We find that many people are unaware of three important things: how desperately we need suitable donors on the registry; that it's quick and easy to register; and that donating can make you a potential lifesaver for another individual," said Carina Ortel, CEO of Delete Blood Cancer. "National Marrow Awareness Month is the perfect time for us to shed light on the facts about the donation process, and to reconfirm our organization's commitment to making the registration and donation processes as easy and convenient as possible."

To date, Delete Blood Cancer and DKMS have registered more than 4.7 million potential donors and facilitated more than 44,000 transplants around the world. This month, they are asking those who have not yet registered, to consider signing up to be a potential live-saver.

How to Register:
Check out Delete Blood Cancer's list of donor drives in your area to register in person. Alternatively, you can visit www.DeleteBloodCancer.org and register online and have a cheek swab kit mailed to your home, which you then send back for an analysis of your tissue type for submission into the national registry. Any race, gender or ethnic group between the ages 18 to 55 can join, as long as they are in good health and have not been treated for serious medical conditions previously.

About the Donation Process:
If you're determined a match for a patient, you will be called by Delete Blood Cancer for more detailed blood work. If these results show that you are a strong match for the patient, Delete Blood Cancer, in coordination with a bone marrow transplant center, will make arrangements for your donation. This can be done in two ways, which is determined by the patient's doctor:

Other Ways to Help:

• Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) Donation: This is the donation method used in 70-75% of cases. PBSC donation is a non-surgical, outpatient procedure that collects blood stem cells via the bloodstream. During the procedure, your blood is drawn through one arm and passed through a machine that filters out the blood stem cells. The remaining blood is returned to you through your other arm. To increase your blood stem cells prior to donation, you will receive daily injections of a synthetic protein called filgrastim on the four days leading up to and on the morning of the procedure. The actual donation can take from 4-8 hours over the course of 1-2 days.
• Bone Marrow Donation: This is the donation method used in about 25%-30% of cases, generally when the patient is a child. It is a 1-2 hour surgical procedure performed under anesthesia, so no pain is experienced during the donation. Marrow cells are collected from the back of your hip bone using a syringe.

If you are unable to become a donor, you can still help patients:

• Give to Delete Blood Cancer to continue its mission to register new donors at: http://www.deletebloodcancer.org/en/give.
• Organize your own local donor drive and spread the word in your community: www.deletebloodcancer.org/recruit/register-others.html.

For updates on Delete Blood Cancer's life-saving work, follow the organization on Facebook (www.facebook.com/DeleteBloodCancer) and Twitter (@getswabbed).

About Delete Blood Cancer
Delete Blood Cancer DKMS is part of the world's largest network of bone marrow donor centers. Our mission is to increase the number of suitable bone marrow and blood stem cell donors, because we believe that no life should be lost due to an inability to find a donor match. We have registered more than 4.7 million potential donors and facilitated more than 44,000 transplants around the world. We lead the fight against blood cancer by working with families, communities and organizations to recruit donors and provide more patients with second chances at life. For more information or to register as a bone marrow donor, please visit DeleteBloodCancer.org.

Contact: Press Department | T: 212.209.6700 | E: [email protected]  

SOURCE Delete Blood Cancer

Related Links

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