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November is National Marrow Awareness MonthNMDP Announces National Donor Recruitment EventMINNEAPOLIS -- October 12, 2001
Donor RecruitmentEach Saturday throughout the month of November, NMDP Donor Centers and Recruitment Groups across the country will be holding donor recruitment drives in their communities. "Second Chances Saturdays" is a time for people to come together, learn about what is involved in becoming a donor and then make the decision to join the NMDP's Registry of potential volunteer donors. The NMDP facilitates more than 140 transplants a month for people with life-threatening diseases who do not have a matching blood stem cell donor in their family. In most cases, people who do not get the transplants they need will die. Of utmost urgency is the need for more minorities - specifically African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics and American Indians/Alaska Natives - to become volunteer donors. Transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor to the patient; because these traits are inherited, the most likely donor will come from the person's same racial or ethnic group. Because minorities make up only about 25% of the Registry, they are less likely than Caucasians to find a matched donor on the Registry. Furthermore, many minority tissue types - especially those found in African Americans - are rarely found in other populations. More donors of diverse race and ethnicity mean that all people will have an equal chance at finding a matched donor. Although joining the Registry is a simple process - all it takes is a small blood test - becoming a volunteer donor is a serious commitment. Those who join the Registry are asked to remain committed to donating for any patient, anywhere in the world, regardless of sex, age, race or ethnicity. This commitment can mean the difference between life and death for the patient. Increase Patient AwarenessEach year, more than 30,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemias, anemias, myelodysplastic disorders and 70 other life-threatening diseases which can be treated by a marrow, blood stem cell or umbilical cord blood transplant. Nearly 75% of these patients will need an unrelated volunteer donor for their transplants. Unrelated transplantation is a viable and successful treatment option. And although the NMDP has facilitated more than 13,000 transplants, many patients still do not know about this treatment option until it is too late. Because the unrelated donor search process can be long, it is critical for patients and medical professionals to initiate a search of the NMDP Registry early in the course of the patient's disease. Preliminary searches of the Registry are provided at no cost to licensed physicians for their patients. To find out more about National Marrow Awareness Month, unrelated transplantation as a life-saving therapy, becoming a marrow or blood stem cell donor, donating umbilical cord blood, finding an NMDP Donor Center, and other ways to help, please call (800) MARROW-2. Media Contact:
Amy Burger, Media and Public Relations Coordinator (800) 526-7809, ext. 8182 or (612) 627-8182 |
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The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) announces that November is National Marrow Awareness Month. An annual event, this year will feature "Second Chances Saturdays," a nationwide effort to recruit volunteer marrow, blood stem cell and umbilical cord blood donors and increase patient awareness of the option of unrelated transplantation. 
