To treat the leukemia, he needed a stem cell transplant. Many people with leukemia, lymphoma, thalassemia, sickle cell anemia and other diseases of blood and bone marrow require a stem cell transplant (commonly referred to as a bone marrow transplant) to survive.
Over 70% of patients will not match a family member, so they need to turn to the public registries of donors. Anyone could be a match, but you are more likely to match someone of the same or similar ethnic background. More ethnic minorities, men and young people are especially needed. There is a severe shortage of people of African, Aboriginal, Asian and anyone of mixed ethnic descent worldwide. Some European donor pools are also underrepresented. If you're Ashkenazi, Greek, Armenian, just as an example, you're in an underrepresented group. Men aren't registering in the same numbers as women. More young people need to be on the register. Tens of thousands of names are removed from the register every year, once their maximum age limit is reached.
I talked to my primary-care physician about this. He has a substantial number of Chinese patients in his practice, and he was well aware of the difficulty finding donors of Asian descent. He had just lost one patient who needed a stem cell transplant; a donor had just been found for her in Taiwan, but at that point she was too weak.
Donating stem cells is more involved than donating whole blood, but it is not dangerous, extremely painful or lengthy. 70% of donors will have stem cells extracted from circulating blood. 30% of donors will need to have liquid marrow extracted from the pelvic bone.
In most of North America, a cheek swab sample is all that is required to register. 12 million people are already registered worldwide and that is a shortage. A person who registers could be the only match for a person in need. This occurrence is even more frequent for people who are in minority donor pools.
Most people will never match someone, but there is only one way to find out if you do. If you are eligible, please consider registering as a potential donor:
National Marrow Donor Program (US) Over 6000 people with an active request.
November is National Marrow Awareness Month in the US, so online registration with the NMDP is free. (The rest of the year, there's a $50 fee for the tissue-typing of your cheek swab.)
Canada Blood Services (Canada, except Quebec) Over 500 people with an active request
Hema Quebec
Anthony Nolan Trust (UK) Over 7000 people with an active request.
Save Carolyn
African Caribbean Leukemia Trust
Emru received a stem cell transplant on September 16th; the cells successfully engrafted, but unfortunately his leukemia has not been driven into remission. Updates are being posted on his weblog and in the "Heal Emru" Facebook group.