Teaming up to save lives Friday, April 14th at the Waverley Grand Mosque
Dear Member,
The Manitoba Islamic Association and Canadian Blood Services are teaming up to save lives Friday, April 14th at the Waverly Grand Mosque after Friday prayers. Canadian Blood Services will be on-site running an OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow information and registration event. Please drop by their booth; you could be a potential life-saving match for a very sick patient! If you are unable to attend the event, there will be a link at the bottom of this page to register online.
The most common need for a stem cell transplant is to treat certain forms of blood cancers or blood disorders, which may cause an inability to generate healthy red blood cells that carry oxygen or healthy platelets that control excess bleeding. Most often a stem cell transfusion is a patient’s last chance at recovery.
By becoming a stem cell registrant you can potentially help a Manitoba patient like Ryder Robinson. As an infant Ryder was diagnosed with Lymphoblastic Leukemia. For 10 months, Ryder went through intense chemotherapy coupled with blood transfusions to eliminate his cancer. A few years later Ryder relapsed resulting in additional rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transfusion. He again went into remission and since then has made and impressive recovery.
More information about becoming a stem cell donor
Registering to be a stem cell donor
Registrants must be between the ages of 17-35. All it takes is ten minutes to fill in a general health questionnaire, a simple swab of the inside of your cheek and a willingness to donate to any patient in need. This information is then safely and securely transferred to OneMatch, to be entered into our donor database.
What it means to donate
Not everyone who registers with OneMatch will be matched to a patient and asked to donate, but each registrant provides hope for those waiting. A person could, however, be a match within a few months of registering, a year later or even seven years later. That’s why it’s important to understand what’s involved – and the commitment – before registering. When selected as a potential match for a patient, OneMatch will contact the registrant to inquire if they are still willing and able to proceed with the donation. Additional health testing will then be performed to ensure the suitability of the match. There are two methods a registrant could be asked to donate; blood donation (majority of the time) or from the bone marrow. These lifesaving stem cells are transferred to the patient to restore their health.
Why younger is better
A registry comprised of younger will better meet the needs of Canadian patients, and will ultimately save lives through improved patient outcomes. Currently Canada’s stem cell Network is comprised of over 365,000 searchable registrants. Only 44% of the Network’s composition contains potential donors 17 to 35 years old and only 19% of the Network’s composition are males aged 17 to 35. In the last year, 80% of donors used for Canadian patients were under the age of 36. It is essential that Canadian Blood Services closes this gap to better serve all our patients.
Great need for ethnically diverse individuals
The markers used to match donors to patients occur with different frequency in different populations. For this reason, a person’s best chance of finding a matching donor is among those with similar ancestry. With the current registry being 75% Caucasian, Canadian Blood Services needs to register more ethnically diverse Individuals to be more representative of the Canadian population.
We need your help
Patients are counting on the generosity of donors like you to become stem cell registrants because no one in their family is a match. We are looking for your support to give life to our patients.
For more information contact our Canadian Blood Services representative
Darrin Desmedt
Territory Manager – Canadian Blood Services
darrin.desmedt@blood.ca
204-789-1074
To register online and have kit sent to you, please clinic the link below
https://blood.ca/en/stem-cell/onematch-information-new-registrants
Finding Hope – See how a stem cell transfusion changed Mackenzie’s life!
https://youtu.be/BVClt9jOqjk
