Save Lives with Dream Hotels & Resorts
Help Us Close the Gap. Save a Life.
This is part of a collaboration between Dream Hotels & Resorts and DKMS Africa to raise awareness, inspire action, and make it easier for Dream’s team to become potential lifesavers for people diagnosed with blood cancer or blood disorders who are seeking a second chance at life.
When someone is diagnosed with a life-threatening blood cancer or blood disorder, their best chance at survival is a stem cell transplant. Only 30% of patients will find a matching donor within their own family. The remaining 70% rely on a stranger, someone they’ve never met, to be their perfect match.
But here’s the reality:
- Less than 0.4% of South Africans are registered as potential stem cell donors.
- This makes it incredibly hard for local patients to find their match.
- Ethnicity plays a major role in finding a match, which is why more Black, Coloured, and Indian donors are urgently needed.
What It Means to Be a Donor
Registering as a donor is free, quick, and non-invasive. You simply fill in a short form and swab the inside of your cheeks. If you’re ever matched with a patient, the donation is done via your bloodstream; similar to giving blood. The only difference is that you only donate once a match is found. And because a perfect match is found in only 1 out of every 100,000 registered people, we urgently need to grow the registry to give patients a real chance at life.
There are no costs to you as a donor. DKMS Africa covers:
- R800 to recruit and process one donor.
- Blood tests and health checks if you’re a match.
- Travel, and medical costs for donation (accommodation only if donor lives far from a collection centre).
- Donor and Patient meet up.
If You Can’t Donate Stem Cells:
Some people may not be eligible to register due to health or age restrictions (17–55 years, healthy). But you can still help:
Remember, all costs related to the donation process are taken care of by DKMS Africa. You will not be asked to pay for anything.
