Sign On To Save Lives
(NAPSM)—Every three minutes, someone in America is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukemia or lymphoma. The good news: A bone marrow transplant may help save these patients’ lives. But a transplant requires a matching donor, and 70 percent of people don’t have a match in their families. So they depend on the generosity of others—maybe even you.
One Man’s Story
Consider the case of 20-year-old Sheldon Mba. While prepping for final exams, Mba began to feel ill. This optimistic young man from Durham, N.C., thought his lingering stomach ailments and prolonged fatigue would pass after his workload lessened and he got more sleep. But when he collapsed on his way to an end-of-year ceremony, he went to the hospital.
After several tests, doctors determined Mba was battling severe aplastic anemia and PNH, two rare marrow failure disorders. His only hope for a cure is a marrow transplant. Now, he and his doctors are searching for a matched donor.
He’s searching not only for himself but for others who also need matching marrow donors, particularly African Americans. Mba knows that patients are most likely to match someone who shares their ancestry and African American patients have the lowest odds of finding a match compared to all other populations. More African American donors are urgently needed to save more lives.
Mba is a huge advocate for Be The Match, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on saving lives through marrow and cord blood transplantation.
“There is a cure for these diseases and cancers. And the cure could be you,” he says, adding, “People are dying from things like sickle cell disease and leukemia because their match isn’t on the registry. You could be that match.”
There is a great need for young, diverse donors: Currently, the likelihood of having a matched, available donor on the Be The Match Registry is 97 percent for Caucasians but for African American and black patients, the likelihood can be as low as 66 percent.
How to Help
That’s where you can come in. You can register as a donor and then stay informed and committed, so that if you’re selected, you’re ready to move forward.
Learn More
For further information, including how to sign up as a donor or to contribute in other ways, go to BeTheMatch.org.
