Be the Match
Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), is a global non-profit organization that manages the world’s most diverse registry of blood stem cell donors. We connect patients diagnosed with blood cancer and other diseases - like sickle cell - with genetically matched donors, willing to donate life-saving blood stem cells to cure patients of their life-threatening disease. The genetic markers used to match patients and donors are inherited, so patients are most likely to match someone who shares their ethnic background. Heritage literally holds the cure. But right now, there are not enough Black donors on the registry for Black patients to find their match. Black representation on the Be The Match Registry is 8%, and the odds of finding a donor match for Black patients are only 29% compared to 79% for Caucasian patients.
There is a CURE for sickle cell disease, and it could be you. More Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) are needed to disrupt this disparity and save more Black lives. If you are between the ages of 18-40, in general good health, and willing to make yourself available to potentially donate blood stem cells to any patient you may match, please join our Operation Save Our Selves (SOS) movement to help save more Black lives. Operation SOS is a movement created out of a vision to ensure that everyone in need of a transplant, regardless of ethnicity, has an equal opportunity to find the match they so desperately need for a lifesaving cure.
To join the registry or to learn more, please text AASLSCF to 61471. We also invite you to visit the Be The Match booth at the Sickle Cell Day 5K on June 18th. Joining the Be The Match Registry is as simple as completing an online registration form and submitting a cheek swab sample for testing. #BeTheMatch #OpSOS
