Why become a stem cell donor?

For patients with a form of blood cancer, e.g. leukemia, a donor's stem cells are often their last chance of survival.

Where can I register?

The importance of healthy stem cells 

The stem cells responsible for the production of different types of blood cells are found in the bone marrow. These blood cells are needed to: 

  • Transport oxygen
  • Combat infections 
  • Prevent bleeding 

In a patient with a serious blood disease, this process is so disrupted as to put them in a life-threatening situation.  

In such cases, the patient is treated with a dose of chemotherapy or radiotherapy high enough to irreparably damage their bone marrow. This treatment not only destroys the malignant cells, but also the benign (blood) cells. A donor's healthy stem cells serve two purposes: 

  1. In a stem cell transplantation, a patient is given functional stem cells that will start producing new blood cells in their body.
  2. If there are any remaining bits of tumor or cancer cells in the patient's body, the donor's stem cells can attack and destroy these cells. 

As a stem cell donor, you can give a patient a chance to make a full recovery from their disease. 

 

Chances of a match 

Unfortunately, a patient cannot receive stem cells from just anyone. It is vitally important that the tissue typing (HLA) of a donor's stem cells matches that of the patient as closely as possible. If the patient's body sees the donor's stem cells as foreign bodies, this leads to serious or even fatal complications. 

The greatest chance of a match occurs between siblings. Nevertheless, only 30% of patients find a suitable donor in their family. This means that the vast majority of patients have to rely on donors outside their family. A person's heritage is an important factor when trying to find a match. That is why a global database of stem cell donors is used to find potential matches for patients.   

The chance of you being a match for a random person somewhere in the world are exceedingly small. In order to find a suitable donor for all patients, it is therefore important to register many stem cell donors all around the world. 

Many young donors needed 

Another important factor is a donor's age. Research shows that stem cells from a young donor give a patient the best chance of recovery.  

Mixed heritage 

Finding a suitable stem cell donor is even more difficult for patients with a non-Western heritage. This is because relatively few people of non-Western heritage have registered as stem cell donors. The same goes for donors with a mixed heritage.  

The heritage of a patient and donor often match. For example, if a patient has an African heritage, the chance of finding a match is greatest with a donor who shares that African heritage. In order to help these patients, it is therefore essential to get more people of mixed or non-Western heritage to register as stem cell donors.