South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) stressed this festive season many families will find themselves gathered around a hospital bed of a loved one diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder in need of a stem cell transplant, instead of the Christmas table.
At any given time, 200 South African patients require a stem cell transplant, but many simply can’t afford the costs associated with the procedure.
To ease the financial burden of these families, SABMR has again launched their Give A Little Save A Life campaign, to raise R300 000 for their Patient Assistance Programme this year. These funds will cover the cost of donor recruitment, donor searches and related medical bills.
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Kamiel Singh, head of national operations and sustainability for the SABMR, said there are three patients on the registry’s Patient Assistance Programme who urgently need financial assistance.
“Every case that is referred to the SABMR is treated with the utmost urgency to ensure a patient has the best chance of survival.
“Right now, we are trying to assist an 11-year-old girl from Cape Town with chronic myeloid leukaemia, a 55-year-old woman from Gauteng who has myelodysplastic syndrome and a man, aged 69, also from Gauteng, who has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. Your financial donation can help give these patients the second chance they so deserve,” he urged.
This festive season, Sama-nominated singer-songwriter Jarrad Ricketts and his wife, Kim-Lee, have become advocates for stem cell donation and will encourage supporters to donate, while challenging many of the myths around the process.
The famous musician said he was surprised to learn that people of colour are grossly underrepresented in the registry.
“It made me realise how much education still needs to be done to break the stigma around stem cell donation. Hundreds of South African patients die every year from blood-related diseases, in many instances related to a shortage of mixed ethnicities, black, coloured and Indian donors.
“Annually, SABMR has over 200 patients on the waiting list for a stem cell transplant -50% of them are of colour, like me. It’s time we question our reluctance to be involved and focus on the impact we can have on someone’s life.
“Disengagement from the donation process directly harms our communities. We need to be part of the registry more so than anyone else. When someone from a coloured, black or Indian community needs a bone marrow transplant, we struggle more than anyone else.
“My wife and I have pledged our commitment to the SABMR by registering as donors and I’d like to encourage all of my supporters to do the same. If we all do our bit, just think about how many lives we can save.
“Come on, let’s be someone’s tomorrow this Christmas,” challenged Ricketts.
The couple will appeal to the public via social media to boost donor sign-ups and to raise much-needed funds for the SABMR’s Patient Assistance Programme. Follow them on @jarradrickettsent and @sabonemreg.
According to SABMR, the coloured community are the least represented on their registry.
The breakdown per ethnic group is:
– Coloured – 7.9%
– Asian/Indian – 9.9%
– Black – 10.1%
– White – 66.5%
For people of colour, the odds of finding a donor match are one in 400 000, which needn’t be the case.
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