MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — For many minorities who are diagnosed with blood-related illnesses, like leukemia, lymphoma and even sickle cell anemia, lifesaving treatment might not be an option. It all comes down to a lack of registered Back and brown donors.
Hematologist and oncologist Dr. Nilay Shah said the international nonprofit DKMS is looking to eliminate blood cancer and along with it, the minority donor deficit that so many patients face.
"You tend to get donors who look and have similar backgrounds, so majority of donor pool is caucasian," Shah said.
Finding donor matches is never easy, in fact 70% of patients must find a match outside of their family. For Black patients, they have a 29% chance of finding a donor compared to almost 80% for white patients.
DKMS has the world's largest collection of stem cell donor centers and pledges to use its global pool to find more donors of the same ethnicity. They realize that certain genetic markers are found within the same ethnic backgrounds.
With only 3% of the U.S. population registered as donors, DKMS wants to continue to create awareness, peak interest and recruit as many people as they can.
Contact Colin Mayfield at cmayfield@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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