GLOBAL PRESS RELEASE

SEARCHING FOR 1 in 10 MILLION

10 million bone marrow donors - 10 million chances of life

50,000 patients have received a chance of life

Can you imagine what it means to search for your one and only person who can save your life?

Each year thousands of people are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukaemia and other blood disorders. Medical treatment cancure these patients, but success is not assured. The transfer of healthy blood stem cells may be the last chance to safe their life.

Some patients find a tissue matched donor within their own family, but the majority depend on an unrelated donor. Transplant centres can search for the matching donor in the database called Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW). The characteristics of all blood stem cell donors worldwide are listed in this system. The “yellow pages of stem cell donors and cord blood units” will register in November the 10,000,000 volunteer stem cell donor. There are now 10 million chances of life for all patients around the world.

Patients all over the world need people to donate marrow, blood stem cells or umbilical cord blood. Because a person’s HLA characteristics are inherited, a patient is more likely to find a matching donor from within his or her own ethnic group. Since most donors are in North America or Europe, the chance of finding a potential donor for patients of North Western European origin is high, but for patients from other ethnic groups the chance is much lower.

International exchange of bone marrow and cord blood units is important. More than 35% of the donations go across international boundaries. The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) was founded to develop guidelines for the collection and the transfer of the blood stem cells and to guarantee quality standards for the patients’ and donors’ health. Today 57 stem cell donor registries and 38 cord blood banks in 42 countries work together for the common good.

On behalf of the thousands of patients who receive that chance of life, BMDW and WMDA want to thank all donors for their commitment to safe life, the life of a stranger.