Guest: Dr Charlotte Ingram Medical Director of the SA Bone Marrow registry.
As you may remember, it was national bandana day a few days ago (Sept 16th) and the purpose of the Sunflower Fund is to raise the money needed to get people registered on the South African Bone Marrow Registry. (September is Stem Cell Donation Month)
But were you aware that they (the SA Bone Marrow registry ) are celebrating 25 years of successfully securing bone marrow stem cell transplants?
Additional info
Since its inception, 383 patients have been given a second chance at life. Regrettably, due to the fact that there is only a one in 100 000 chance of finding a donor, the SABMR is in need for more South Africans to register - most particularly within the black population, to become bone marrow donors in order to improve the odds.
According to the SABMR, approximately 30% of patients find a match within their families whilst the other 70% rely on finding a match from an unrelated donor to provide them with the chance of survival. The SABMR currently has 72 000 registered bone marrow donors on its database and the chance of finding a match for a patient diagnosed with a blood disease is one in 100 000, which makes South African based donor recruitment essential.
