People worldwide are diagnosed with blood cancer or a blood disorder every 27 seconds with a South African being diagnosed with blood cancer every 7 minutes.
DKMS Africa is an international non-profit organisation that allows you to be a part of the fight against blood cancer, by registering as a donor within minutes.
Who is DKMS?
In 2021, The Sunflower Fund and DKMS joined forces through an amalgamation and officially launched DKMS Africa. Their mission was to fight blood cancer and ensure that every blood cancer patient needing a transplant finds their genetic match. DKMS Africa is a non-profit origisation that prides itself on being the premier organisation in Africa to recruit donors while creating awareness about blood stem cell donation.
Research indicates that the chances of Black, Coloured, Indian and Asian blood cancer patients finding a genetic match stand at 19%, in comparison to patients of European descent who have a 75% chance. Black, Coloured, Indian and Asian groups remain significantly underrepresented on the global registry.
The chances of patients finding a genetic match depends on donors from the same ethnic group. This phenomenon is a critical matter for all citizen to get involved and ensure that the registry reflects South Africa’s diversity and ethnic background. DKMS Africa, has continued to help people find unrelated matching donors, currently, through the organisation’s efforts, there have been 100 000 transplants performed to date.
Becoming a DKMS donor
One of the highlights of blood stem cell donor, Blossom Ngesi-Mealing’s journey of becoming a stem cell donor was the informative doctor’s consultation. “The process was comfortable, easy-going, and if I could donate again, I definitely would,” she said.
For Chartered Accountant trainee, Charl Sonnekus, an article about a seven-year-old blood disorder patient motivated him to register to be a donor. It was a match, which he described as “a rare situation”. “I got really excited when I realised I was going to save a life,” Charl remarked.
Registering to become a blood stem cell donor is simple. Readers can visit DKMS Africa for more information. The registration process takes only a few minutes and the team gets back to you swiftly. The organisation encourages everyone to register to give a patient a second chance at life.
Current drives
While DKMS has over 11 million potential stem cell donors registered worldwide, there are other ways to help if you don’t qualify to register as a blood stem cell donor. You can provide financial support to blood cancer patients in need of a transplant. It can be as easy as listing DKMS Africa as a beneficiary on your My School card.
Contact DKMS Africa to share your stories or register on the database as a potential blood stem cell donor. The power to help save lives and give hope is in your hands.