World Marrow Donor Day (WMDD) is celebrated globally on the third Saturday of September. In 2019 it will be held on Saturday, September 21.
An Italian-Australian family from WA is currently searching a donor: their 20-tear-old child Jordan Saccoccio was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
His greatest chance of survival is to receive a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. His family and doctors have tried to find a compatible donor on the International Bone Marrow Donor Registry, but they were not able to.
So the only chance for Jordan to live is to find a new donor who is a match.
In their social media appeal for donors, the family wrote “Jordan’s best chance of donor match is likely to be with someone of Italian heritage”.
Lisa Smith, CEO of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR), says becoming a donor is really simple.
“Joining through the website is easy - you simply fill in your contact information. You will receive a kit in the post. Fill out the form and post the kit back.
"Job done; and then we’ll see if you are a match for a patient”.
Smith explained why the donor’s cultural background can have an impact on his/her compatibility with a patient.
“Because the patient needs a match with them on a genetic level there may be only a few people in the world that do match with them”.
“A patient needs someone who matches their immune system at a genetic level, so they are more likely to find it in a donor that matches their genetic heritage”.
"For a patient is a matter of life or death," said Smith.
