Initiative to Recruit African American Marrow Donors

Entrepreneur Farrah Gray is Spokesman for National Marrow Donor Program

Farrah Gray, best-selling author and respected business leader, is partnering with the National Marrow Donor Program to launch a nationwide public awareness campaign. The campaign is designed to educate the public about the need for more Black and African American marrow and blood cell donors and to recruit Blacks and African Americans to join the NMDP Registry, a confidential national database of potential marrow donors.

This is an issue that hits close to home: Farrah's sister, Greek Gray, was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) one year ago. Greek has relapsed after a six-month remission and requires a bone marrow transplant.

"This campaign is designed to help people like my sister who need a marrow or cord blood donor so that they can have a second chance at life," said Gray. "The only way to ensure this is by educating people about the need and encouraging them to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry."

While patients of any racial or ethnic heritage may have difficulty finding a donor for their transplant, Black and African American patients face the greatest challenge. Marrow and cord blood transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Because these traits are inherited, a patient's most likely match is someone of the same racial or ethnic group. Unfortunately, 70 percent of patients do not have a suitably matched donor in their family. A patient's next best chance of finding a match is with someone of the same race or ethnicity.

"While there have been millions of potential donors who have registered, there remains a critical need for more donors from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds," said Dr. Jeffrey W. Chell, NMDP chief executive officer. "Through our educational efforts supported by Nelly, Raven-Symone and now Farrah Gray, we hope to increase awareness among Black and African American communities about this need."

A person of any race, ethnicity or gender who is 18 to 60 years old and meets donation health guidelines can become a potential volunteer donor.

To learn more about joining the NMDP Registry, call 1-800-MARROW, or register online. To host a donor drive in your community, contact your local donor center.

To learn more about Greek and Farrah Gray and their work in support of National Marrow Donor Program, visit www.greekgrayleukemiafoundation.org.