The Sunflower Fund - Friends of the South African Bone Marrow Registry Foundation

The Sunflower Fund co-ordinates and arranges awarenessr drives to enable the SABMR to increase. The registry is currently at over 63 000 and the need is to expand it to 100 000. Although more donors between the ages of 18 and 50 are urgently needed, the SABMR desperately needs volunteers from key areas of the community.

Due to current shortages, you are even more precious if you are male and/or from a black, asian or mixed race ethnic background.

DAILY ON-GOING DONOR RECRUITMENT

The established and most effective procedure for donor recruitment is to refer interested potential donors to The Sunflower Fund toll-free call centre at 0800 12 10 82. The Sunflower Fund Call Centre will establish whether or not the caller complies with the relevant criteria to become a bone marrow stem cell donor and will also inform the caller of his/her rights and obligations as a donor. Once a caller has been classified as a suitable donor, they will be issued with a donor number and / or payment instructions and directed to their nearest South African National Blood Service (SANBS) fixed donor site.

This process is tried and tested by both The Sunflower Fund and the SANBS clinics and laboratories and works to all parties satisfaction.

All potential donors, and in particular the family and friends of leukaemia sufferers involved in bone marrow stem cell searches, are strongly encouraged to follow this process. It is the most effective process in place for all parties concerned and ensures that all donors are well informed and committed.

Only 45% of the donors currently on the SABMR are male. Inadequate access to males is a serious
problem because:

Males are generally more able to provide adequate quantities of blood stem cells that are required for transplant
Males are much less likely to suffer from anaemia, a condition which would prohibit a volunteer from being able to donate
It is not possible to donate bone marrow during and up to one year after pregnancy
If there is a choice of a donor for a patient, a male donor may be preferred

Male Shortage

Ethnic Origin
Ethnic origin (Heritage) is important when matching donors and patients. The “markers” that are tested when searching for a match are genetically inherited and often unique to a particular race. Simply there are currently not enough volunteers on the Register from 211 ethnic groups that make up our rainbow nation. This includes African, African-Carribean, Asian, Chinese, Jewish, Eastern European, Mediterranean as well as donors of mixed ethnic background.

By joining the registry you may be able to save the life or lives of others within your community who might otherwise be unsuccessful, in finding a match.

We are appealing to businesses, schools and the man in the street, to come forward and deposit funds into our bank account so that we can continue to take samples over the next few years and try and make a real effort to change things, expand the size of the registry and be in a position to help children and many others suffering from leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders.