Still aiming to reach 100 000 donor registrations after having campaigned for the last three decades, the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) is set to name a star after a donor once this target is achieved.
Coinciding with the celebration of World Marrow Donor Day on 17 September, the SABMR has this month launched an “out-of-this-world” campaign.
The SABMR collects blood stem cells, sometimes even from around the globe, for South African patients in need of a transplant.
These precious stem cells help rebuild a patient’s immune system – working as a cure for numerous blood cancers.
To become eligible for the star-naming, people can sign up to become a donor on sabmr.co.za, or at any of the SABMR drives.
Jane Ward, deputy director of the SABMR, said they considered each one of their almost 80 000 existing donors to be stars.
“Much like stars that are born in the same cluster share similar chemical signatures, which help scientists track the stars they are related to, so too do our donor searches help us to find genetic twins among humans that share matching DNA, no matter where in the world they are,” said Ward.
“The figure set as target is significant, as it symbolises the odds of finding a match. Currently, the chances of finding a tissue match are around 1 in 100 000.”
According to Ward, the SABMR has thus far saved the lives of more than 600 South African patients.
“However, only 25% of these donors have come from South Africa. When no local matches are found, we must look abroad, which takes time and can become costly.
“Our patients don’t have the luxury of time. They suffer from life-threatening illnesses such as leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia and immune deficiency disorders that can claim their lives within the span of a few weeks or months.”
Ward said less than half of blood stem cell transplants in the country were from donors in South Africa, while the vast majority have come from donors in Germany and America.
“Stem cell donations have also come from 25 other countries. If we had a larger local donor pool, patients could be helped sooner, thereby increasing their chances of survival.”
Ward said in South Africa, only 1% of the population were registered stem cell donors, compared to 13% in Cyprus, 12% in Israel and 9% in Germany.
To boost donor numbers this month, the SABMR has been hosting various events across the country. These include physical donor drives, fun runs, celebrity-judged bake-offs and more.
For more information about becoming involved, visit sabmr.co.za or follow @sabonemreg.
