Children's and National Marrow Donor Program sponsor "Be a Matchmaker" bone marrow donor drive
DALLAS - (January 30, 2004) - Children's Medical Center Dallas hosts its 13th annual "Be A Matchmaker" marrow drive on Friday, Feb. 13, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Held in honor of Valentine's Day, the drive recruits potential marrow donors for the thousands of children and adults currently searching for a lifesaving match. Sponsored by the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's and the National Marrow Donor Program at Carter BloodCare, more than 2,200 people have joined the national registry since the first "Be A Matchmaker" drive in 1992.
Anyone in good health between the ages of 18 and 60 is encouraged to participate by donating a sample of blood, which will then be entered into a computerized registry linked with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). A finger prick is all it takes to collect the sample.
About 70 percent of patients needing a marrow transplant do not have a family member who is a compatible donor and must therefore access the NMDP Registry. A patient's most likely match outside the immediate family is someone of the same racial or ethnic group. There is a special need for volunteer marrow donors from the African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American Indian communities, which are now underrepresented in the NMDP Registry. The test is free and takes about 20 minutes.
The NMDP Registry contains more than four million potential marrow donors. At any given time, there is an average of 3,000 active searches. Worldwide, the NMDP has facilitated more than 15,000 unrelated marrow transplants.
Unrelated donor transplants represent a therapeutic option for selected pediatric and adult patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia and certain congenital blood disorders. There are currently several Children's patients waiting for a match.
The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's treats approximately 200 newly diagnosed children with cancer each year. Since the inception of its Stem Cell Transplant Program in February 1992, 152 transplants have been performed.
Please call 214-351-8150 for more information on becoming a NMDP volunteer marrow donor.