Bone Marrow Drive seeks Match for Weston Resident

Marrow drive Date: May 2, 2010 at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, Weston, MA  11:30 am- 2:30 pm
 
A bone marrow drive will be held for  Peter Condakes on May 2nd, 2010  at St. Demetrios Greek Othrodox Church , from 11:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. Peter Condakes was diagnosed in April,  2010 with Leukemia and it is critical he find a life-saving marrow donor.

Every 15 minutes someone in the United States is diagnosed with a medical condition that requires treatment with a blood stem cell or bone marrow transplant. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is encouraging people to help save lives by registering to be a potential donor. 

More than 35,000 people in the United States are diagnosed each year with leukemias, anemias, myelodysplastic disorders and many other life-threatening diseases that require treatment with stem cell transplants. Nearly 70 percent of these patients must rely on an unrelated donor to offer them this precious gift of life.  “Finding a compatible donor is always a challenge, and certain tissue traits of the donor and the patient must match,” said Joseph H. Antin M.D., chief of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program and medical director of the unrelated donor program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  “The best potential donor most likely comes from the patient’s same ethnic group, and many minority groups are under-represented in the national registry. More donors of diverse race and ethnicity increase the opportunity that all people will have an equal chance of finding a matched donor.”

There is a need for donors of all races, but the need for minority donors is urgent. Because “tissue type” is inherited like skin and eye color, patients are most likely to find a match from someone of a similar ethnic background. Because individuals with minority ethnic backgrounds comprise only 25 percent of the national registry, patients from minority ethnic backgrounds are less likely than Caucasians to find a matched donor.

Joining the Be The Match Registry℠ is a simple process and requires only a small saliva test, but becoming a volunteer donor is a serious commitment. Those who join the registry are asked to remain committed until their 61st birthday. They are asked to commit to donating to any patient, anywhere in the world, regardless of the patient’s sex, age, race or ethnicity. This pledge can mean the difference between life and death for the patient.

To find out more about Dana-Farber’s Marrow Donor Program, please call 866-875-3324, email nmdpdonor@dfci.harvard.edu, or visit online at www.dana-farber.org/nmdp.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, a federally designated Center for AIDS Research, and a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, a federally designated comprehensive cancer center.

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