Be The Match Kicks off Nationwide Effort to Increase African American Bone Marrow Donors
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eleven-year-old Valaria Fenderson of Atlanta is quietly fighting for life while waiting for the bone marrow transplant that could cure her sickle cell anemia. Her battle against this inherited blood disorder – which most often strikes Africans and African Americans – has kept her in pain and taken her in and out of hospitals for most of her young life.
Today, a bone marrow transplant is Valaria’s only hope for a cure, but like many African Americans who need transplants, she doesn’t have a matched bone marrow donor.
Patients usually find a suitable donor in someone with a similar ethnic background. But just 7 percent of the nation’s 10 million registered potential bone marrow donors are African American. Be The Match® aims to improve this number through a national awareness campaign this July, which is African American Bone Marrow Awareness Month.
Registry events nationwide will encourage more African Americans to step forward and join the Be The Match Registry®. It’s the world’s largest listing of potential bone marrow donors, who hold the potential of a cure for patients like Valaria who have sickle cell anemia or life-threatening blood cancers.
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