More hope for patients with blood disorders
Sunflower Fund has joined forces with DKMS to register as many potential blood stem cell donors as possible
THE Sunflower Fund has joined forces with DKMS (Deutsche Knochen Mark Spenderdatei) to register as many potential blood stem cell donors as possible, to help patients worldwide in need of a life-saving blood stem cell transplant, in finding a match swiftly.
This will provide a second chance at life for many more patients with blood disorders.
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The Sunflower Fund is a donor recruitment centre and stem cell registry for Africa, and is part of a global network, dedicated to creating awareness about blood diseases and stem cell donation, recruiting blood stem cell donors and maintaining a registry of committed donors.
It brings a wealth of expertise in the recruitment of stem cell donors and building an ethnically diverse registry of donors from across South Africa, Namibia, Ghana and Nigeria.
The organisation also maintains a patient support fund to assist patients who are unable to afford costs associated with getting a transplant.
‘We are very excited about the partnership with DKMS. Growing the diversity of the donor pool is critically important and we see a fantastic opportunity to be able to do this together not only in South Africa but also in other African countries.
‘We want to register as many potential donors to provide as many patients as possible with a second chance at life,’ said Sunflower Fund CEO, Alana James.
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Cancer burden
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths according to the World Health Organisation.
Statistics further indicate the cancer burden continues to grow globally, exerting tremendous physical, emotional and financial strain on individuals, families, communities and health systems.
This drain means large numbers of cancer patients globally do not have access to timely quality diagnosis and treatment.
This is also the case when it comes to blood cancer, which makes up approximately 7% of all cancers.
‘Every five minutes someone in South Africa is diagnosed with blood cancer or other life-threatening blood disorders such as Thalassemia.
‘For many of these patients their only hope of cure is a stem cell transplant from a matching donor,’ said Clinical Haematologist, Dr David Brittain from Albert Alberts Stem Cell Transplant Centre in Pretoria.
According to Brittain, only one third of patients find a matching donor in their own family, and the majority, therefore, depend on an unrelated donor.
‘A successful blood stem cell transplant needs a HLA tissue match. Globally, doctors activate searches on a daily basis for donors, in order to save their patients’ lives.
‘A donor match could come from anywhere in the world,’ he said.
About DKMS
DKMS is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the fight against blood cancer.
It was founded in 1991 in Germany by Dr Peter Harf.
DKMS has expanded internationally in recent years by establishing entities in the US, Poland, the UK, and Chile as well as India and in South Africa.
The Sunflower Fund partnered by DKMS has registered more than 9.9 million potential blood stem cell donors and which has given more than 84 000 patients across the globe a second chance at life by facilitating blood stem cell transplants.
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