Every 14 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer.
For many patients a stem cell transplant from a matching donor is the only chance of survival.
World Blood Cancer Day
Today, World Blood Cancer Day, blood cancer charity DKMS is putting out the call to Britons to sign up as potentially life-saving stem cell donors.
While the need for stem cell donors is big and growing, only 2.4% of Brits aged 16 to 65 are registered as donors.
The West Midlands exceeds the national average with 3.2% of 16-to-65s registered to donate.
Emilia Mackay, seven, was saved by a stem cell donor
One person whose life was saved by an anonymous stem cell donor is Emilia Mackay, seven, from Redditch.
Emilia was just five when she was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a rare and life-threatening blood disorder, and required weekly blood and platelet transfusions just to survive.
No-one in her family was a match, so a global search began to find a stranger who could save her life.
Fortunately for Emilia, a stranger in Germany had signed up to the DKMS stem cell donor register, and was identified as a match. Their stem cells were then transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where Emilia was treated.
Emilia’s dad, James Mackay, said: “As a parent my child being diagnosed with such a serious illness was my worst nightmare. When we knew that Emilia was reliant on the stem cell donor register, it was terrifying. It’s not easy to see the statistics about a match when it’s your own child who’s waiting”.
Thriving
Since her transplant at the end of 2023, Emilia is thriving.
James and Emilia are marking World Blood Cancer Day with DKMS by encouraging everyone aged 17 to 55 and in good general health to order a free swab kit via their website (dkms.org.uk), complete a simple cheek swab and return it to be added to the register.
Things you didn’t know about blood cancer:
- Blood cancers are the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK.
- Every year, nearly 13,000 people die from blood cancer in the UK.
- At any one time there are around 2,000 people in the UK in need of a stem cell transplant.
- Of those registered, only 16 % are from UK minority ethnic backgrounds. This makes it more difficult for patients from these backgrounds to find a match
Signing up to the stem cell donor register is a quick and easy process involving some painless mouth swabs: if you are aged 17 to 55 and in general good health, you’re eligible to join the register with DKMS. If you are then matched with someone needing a transplant, in nine out of ten cases donating is a simple, outpatient process similar to donating blood platelets.
