I've joined the fight against blood cancer!

Life-threatening illnesses such as blood cancer affect not only the patient but the family in its entirety. The financial, mental health, and access to medical care for diagnosed patients is the reason why I partnered with DKMS Africa, to help create awareness and shine the light on this issue as well as to urge South Africans to come forward and register as donors to help save lives.

Quick Facts:

• 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 getting more people registered as 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.

If there is any opportunity for Black, Coloured, Indian, and Asian patients to receive treatment and reach transplant then we have to act as South Africans.

Like me, join the fight against blood cancer now by registering to become a blood stem cell donor.

South Africa needs you! Blood cancer patients need you!