A bone marrow transplant may be the only curative option for patients with blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma, and other life-threatening blood disorders like sickle cell disease and aplastic anemia. Finding a matched donor is the most important, yet sometimes quite difficult, step in the process.
Patients are most likely to match with someone of their own race or ethnicity since tissue types are inherited. Unfortunately, minorities are underrepresented in the blood and marrow registry, making it more difficult (and sometimes impossible) to find a suitable donor.
We are in need of blood and marrow donors of all races and ethnicities to give patients who need a bone marrow transplant the best chance of a cure.
Please help by joining the Be The Match Registry® during Cheek Week and learn how you can help a patient in need!
Dr. Zachary Prudowsky and Timesha Edwards, PA-C, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center clinicians and Be The Match advocates, know the importance of registering firsthand. Prudowsky was in medical school when he joined the registry, and six years later learned he was a match for a patient with leukemia. As a result of his stem cell donation, the matched patient survived her cancer and is now experiencing the joys of being a grandmother. Edwards organized an on-campus Be The Match event in college and, almost a decade later, received a match call to donate her bone marrow for an 11-year old patient in Germany. Click here to read the full story.
Being enrolled in the registry isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be called to be a donor; however, if you are identified as a match, you could save a life! For those ages 18-40, all you have to do is stop by and swab your cheek during Cheek Week to be included in the registry:
July 11-13, 2023
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Texas Children’s Hospital – Medical Center
The Auxiliary Bridge (third floor between Mark Wallace Tower and West Tower)
Can’t join us in person? Please visit CheekWeek.com for more information or text CW23TCH to 61474 to be sent a swab kit in the mail.