Battling Cancer

I received an interesting (well to me it was) email from my local blood donation center..nudging me to schedule my eight week donation and adding this information:

Did you know that there is another way you can save lives? Each year thousands of people are diagnosed with diseases like leukemia and lymphoma for which a stem cell or marrow transplant could be the only cure. About 70 percent of these people are unable to find a donor match within their family and must search for an unrelated donor on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

Why the need for stem cells or marrow?

Stem cells are destroyed by chemo or radiation. Stem cells are considered the foundation of blood formation. Stem cells become white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

For more information on this see the Battling Cancer Archives on neutropenia.

From the National Marrow Donor Program:

The basics:

“Race and ethnicity matter in tissue matches”

Your heritage can make all the difference. If you are from one of the following communities, you are urgently needed as a bone marrow donor or cord blood donor:

• Black and African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
• Hispanic and Latino
• Multiple race

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