ProfitComm is donating $5,000 to support There Goes My Hero’s Color the Registry Initiative this #GivingTuesday, an initiative that focuses on diversifying the bone marrow donor registry.
Earlier this year two sisters, 8-year old Kylie and 12-year old Kimora, were told that to cure their blood disorder, they would need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. For the procedure to be successful, they need to find a matching donor. They, like thousands of blood cancer and blood disorder patients around the world, asked the community for something simple: swab your cheek, see if you can be a matching donor, and donate if you are.
For us at ProfitComm, this story is very familiar. Denis’ friend Erik Sauer was diagnosed with leukemia 12 years ago, and his doctors told him that his only chance for survival was a bone marrow transplant. Only 30% of patients find a matching donor within their family. Erik’s brother was not a match, and he fell into the 70% of patients that have to find a stranger willing to save their lives. Luckily, a 19-year old woman from Germany named Isabel had registered as a donor and was wanted to donate when they let her know she was a match. Denis says that, “Heroes look like Isabel. 12 years ago a girl from the other side of the world who did not know him saved his life by donating bone marrow.”
Erik founded There Goes My Hero to save lives, provide hope, and help those impacted by blood cancer and blood disorders. A huge part of their effort is registering potential bone marrow donors. To date, they have registered almost 22,000 people, which has resulted in 365 matches to patients in need and 42 live-saving donations. We are proud to be a financial sponsor of There Goes My Hero.
A disparity still exists within the available donors. While a person of European descent has almost an 80% chance of finding a matching donor, Kylie and Kimora have just a 25% of finding a donor on the registry because donors of color are extremely under-represented on the bone marrow registry. This is why There Goes My Hero started their Color the Registry initiative.
“With this program, we want to diversify the bone marrow donor registry so that it reflects the demographics of the United States at large, offering hope to all patients in need of a bone marrow transplant, no matter their ethnic or racial background,” says Mary Kaye DiUbaldo, Hero’s Executive Director.
We are joined by Harford Mutual Insurance Co., Wells Fargo, Gordon Feinblatt, and Chesapeake Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Center, for totaling matching donations of $11,500. If you’d like to show your love to blood cancer patients this Giving Tuesday, please make a donation to There Goes My Hero here. Be a HERO.