‘Become a donor, save a life,’ say SABMR
This is the first time the fundraiser was held in Durban following the launch of the KwaZulu-Natal SABMR branch last year.
THE South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) held its first annual charity golf day at Durban Country Club on Friday, March 11.
This is the first time the fundraiser was held in Durban following the launch of the KwaZulu-Natal SABMR branch last year.
The event aims to raise funds for children and adult patients in need of stem cell donors.
Kamiel Singh, SABMR head of sustainability and national operations, said the the event was a success with funds raised through the golf event and the auction after the game.
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“We raised about R50 000 through the auction alone. All funds raised will assist children affected by leukaemia and other types of cancer who are on our data base, waiting to match with a donor. We opened our KZN offices in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in September last year. Our mandate is to add as many donors to our database as we can. Currently there are 11 individuals on the list. For children suffering from a cancer like leukaemia, their only chance of survival is to have a stem cell transplant. That’s where we come in with our data base. We go to companies, malls and schools to sign up donors. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 45 can sign up,” he said.
Aneesah Mackie, SABMR donor recruitment and sustainability administrator said 95% of donations are done as a peripheral transplant, taken from the blood.
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“Five days before you donate you will be administered a medication to stimulate your body to create more stem cells. Blood will be drawn from you and then it goes into a stem cell separating machine before your blood is transferred back to you. It looks like you are giving blood. The entire process lasts six hours over two days. Once that’s done, we transplant the stem cells to the patients within 72 hours,” she said.
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