Canadian Blood Services playing matchmaker at MUN

There are more than 1,000 Canadians waiting for a match to receive a life-saving stem cell or marrow transplant, and many more worldwide.

In the coming month, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) will make it easy for people at Memorial University in St. Johns to help answer that demand.

Three events are being held at the campus in January and February to recruit people into the OneMatch donor base, which files results of buccal or cheek swabs to match potential donors with patients in need.

The primary target are males between 17 and 35 years old and thats why the focus in January is at MUN. Its the quality of the stem cells that come from that age group, said Peter MacDonald, regional director for CBS in Atlantic Canada.

As we age, our stem cells become less viable for transplant, and males are just a stronger source of stem cells. Doesnt mean that females are not capable or able to donate stem cells, but males are the preferred donors for stem cells.

MacDonald said older people may register, but will age out of the system faster. Those 51 and older are not eligible.

Id encourage someone who is perhaps outside of that target ... to encourage someone they know who is within that demographic to join the OneMatch registry,

CBS aims to get 50 people registered per event, and fell short of that at some events last year. The organization is hoping for better results this time.

At our OneMatch events held at MUN in November, we collected 77 swabs over three days. It is our hope that by tying our OneMatch Events with our blood donor clinics on the MUN campus this semester, we will have a greater interest in the OneMatch Program as the majority of the students/staff attending are already volunteer blood donors, said Karen Power, CBS event co-ordinator in St. Johns.

Why join?

Follow this link:
Canadian Blood Services playing matchmaker at MUN