Minneapolis --
March 03, 2009The National Marrow Donor Program's (NMDP) Office of Patient Advocacy today announced a partnership with CaringBridge, a nonprofit Web service that connects families and friends when someone is facing a serious medical condition, treatment or recovery. A CaringBridge Web site provides a place for users to post journal entries and photos, and receive messages of hope and encouragement in a guestbook.
For many patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, a marrow or cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor is their best or only hope for a cure. Through this partnership, a patient's CaringBridge page can link to the NMDP's Web site marrow.org for visitors interested in learning more about these diseases and transplant as a treatment option.
On average, more than 350 patients receive a marrow or cord blood transplant through the NMDP each month. "Transplant preparation and early recovery typically require months of hospitalization and weeks of isolation to protect patients from infection," said Elizabeth Murphy, director, Office of Patient Advocacy. "CaringBridge provides patients and caregivers a great way to stay in touch with family and friends and keep everyone informed of what's going on. This partnership fits perfectly with our goal to support patients and their families throughout the transplant process."
"Instead of spending time making phone calls and sending e-mails to keep everyone updated, patients and caregivers can focus their energy on recovery," said Judy Trucano, partnership manager, CaringBridge. "CaringBridge connects more than 20 million families each year and there have been more than half a billion individual visits to personal CaringBridge Web sites. The service is free, funded by individual donations and hospital and collaborative partnerships."
About CaringBridge
CaringBridge® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization offering free, personalized Web sites to those wishing to stay in touch with family and friends when facing a serious medical condition, treatment or recovery. CaringBridge's mission is to bring together a global community of care, powered by the love of family and friends, in an easy, accessible and private way. For more information, please visit www.CaringBridge.org.
For more NMDP patient information, please visit www.marrow.org/patient. OPA case managers are available Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. Please contact the OPA at (888) 999-6743 or send an e-mail to patientinfo@nmdp.org.