My name is Siphiwokuhle and I need your help!
Register for this driveSiphiwokuhle urgently need a blood stem cell donor.
My name is Siphiwokuhle, I am four years old and I have been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia now I need a blood stem cell donor to live. When I kept getting sick, my grand aunt took me to the doctor for tests, that's when they found that I have this rare life-threatening blood cancer.
My mother has done everything she can to help me now we need you to help me.
“I’ve already lost my mother and sister and my daughter has been my anchor through it all. Now my entire world is falling apart, again. I’m doing everything within my power to give her the best life and I pray every day that people register to help save my little angel,” pleads my mother, Simphiwe.
What is Acute Myeloid Leukaemia?
Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) is a rare type of blood cancer that affects my body’s ability to produce white blood cells which help my immune system fight infections and diseases.
Only 60% of children under the age of 15 with AML live at least five years after the cancer is found and often a blood stem cell transplant to survive.
FACTS ABOUT BLOOD CANCER AND REGISTERING TO BECOME A BLOOD STEM CELL DONOR
- A South African is diagnosed with blood cancer or a blood disorder every 72 minutes.
- Patients of African descent only have a 30% chance of finding a matching blood stem cell donor while white patients have a 79% chance. This is because of the ethnic underrepresentation on the global stem cell registry. We can change this by registering more blood stem cell donors.
- Matches are not based on blood type but rather your HLA characteristic (DNA). This means that a blood cancer patient’s match is most likely to come from someone in the same ethnic group which is why representation matters.
- Becoming a donor starts by registering on the DKMS Africa website. A swab kit will be couriered to you and collected for free. Once your swab has been typed in their lab, you will be listed as an active donor on the global stem cell registry.
- If you are found to be a match, their medical team will contact you directly via your listed contact number. The chances of being a match are 1 in 100 000 and you’ll only ever donate up to two times for the same patient.
- The donation is done via the Peripheral Stem Cell Method which means there’s no surgery involved and it’s similar to donating blood or platelets.
All costs related to the donation process are taken care of by DKMS Africa.
You will not be asked to pay for anything.
