It may sound crazy, but it’s true: You are literally the cure for blood cancers like leukemia and diseases like sickle cell.
How? Someone is diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disease. As part of their treatment, they receive chemotherapy which completely wipes out their entire immune system. This is where you come in. Your healthy blood stem cells replace their immune system—you save their life. Sounds easy, right?
Erin swabbed her cheek and joined the Be The Match Registry®. Nine years later, she received a call saying she was a match.
Most of the time donors donate through a process similar to donating plasma. However, the patient’s doctor wanted a different type of blood stem cells through marrow donation. Erin was most nervous about getting sick due to COVID-19 and not being able to donate at all. For the actual donation, she was put under anesthesia and didn’t feel anything. Erin says her recovery is going well. She’s a little sore, but knows it was worth it—providing a second chance to her perfect match.
“I want my recipient to know he’s been on my mind constantly. All of my family and friends are sending him prayers and good thoughts. We are officially a team now. We are in this together,” says Erin.
Today, 70% of patients do not have a fully matched donor in their family and they are counting on people like you to help. Matching is also largely based on ethnic background. Ethnically diverse donors are urgently needed because the donor pool isn’t as diverse as it needs to be.
With a few simple steps, you're on your way to making a big difference.
About Be The Match®
For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—or other diseases, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with their donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. People can contribute to the cure as a member of the Be The Match Registry®, financial contributor or volunteer. Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), a nonprofit organization that matches patients with donors, educates health care professionals and conducts research through its research program, CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®), so more lives can be saved. To learn more about the cure, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.