No one would even want to utter the word but the fact is that Cancer is one of the biggest killers all over the world. Did you know that in Singapore, Every day 6 Singaporeans are diagnosed with a blood-related disease? A bone marrow transplant could save life of these patients. A bone marrow transplant involves the infusion of healthy blood stem cells into the patient’s body to stimulate new bone marrow growth and restore production of healthy blood cells.
Do you know?
For some patients, a bone marrow transplant is often their last chance of survival. But finding a donor is a colossal of a task! Parents are always a half-match for their children because a child inherits half of the HLA markers from each parent. So the search starts from patient’s family. When parents can not be the donors then there is only a 25% chance of a sibling being a suitable donor for a patient. This is due to the fact that there are four possible combinations for the maternal and paternal characteristics.
The end result of this process? 70% of patients do not find a match among their siblings! This finding could be really devastating for patients waiting for bone marrow transplant.
What if the patient doesn’t find a match in the family?
For patients requiring a transplant who do not have a related donor, an HLA-matched unrelated donor is the next best option. Exactly at this point in time, BMDP comes in the picture.
What is BMDP?
BMDP is Singapore’s only public register providing unrelated donors for patients.
The Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) manages Singapore’s only register of volunteer bone marrow donors. Everything they do is for the ultimate goal of finding a donor for every patient..
Since 1993, the Bone Marrow Donor Programme has been providing that often, last chance of survival to hundreds of patients suffering from terminal blood-related diseases, in the form of a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated marrow donor.
BMDP is on a mission to:
- To build a register of Singapore bone marrow donors.
- To network and be the conduit of a global marrow database.
- To build a world class search process for transplants.
- To be an advocacy champion for donors (including their immediate families) from pre-donation to post-donation.
- To educate the public and promote further understanding of blood-related diseases.
What they do at BMDP directly impacts life and death, so with promise of “A donor for every patient”, BMDP reaches out to all sectors within the community to share the message and empower people with the choice to save a life.
BMDP is fully committed to building the local donor register into a national asset to help all Singapore residents have that second chance of life.
Why I joined the Bone Marrow Donor Register?
Cancer is a monster and when the dreaded Big C struck someone very close in our family, that is when I realized how terribly it impacts not only the patient but the whole family. Fortunately, the person turned out to be a Survivor but it was and is still a long path of recovery. The experience of our family underscores the importance of finding the right Bone Marrow donor as a treatment option when no other treatment works.
As an influencer with a big family of readers on website, Instagram and Facebook, I wanted to leverage this influence to generate awareness about BMDP’s initiatives via my socials. More the merrier when it comes to the marrow register, isn’t it?
Yes, I am BMDP’s Ambassador Influencer and at the same time, I have joined their Bone Marrow Donor Register too because it could give someone a second chance to live this beautiful life!
Joining The Bone Marrow Donor Register
If you at all thinking that it’s troublesome or painful to join the register, it is NOT! It’s an extremely simple process.
Once you join the BMDP register, you will be included in a world-wide database for transplant centre search for their patients. If you are found to be a potential match to a patient, BMDP’s donor management staff will contact you.
Contact BMDP
You too could be a savior for someone. Join the BMDP register. Contact them here.
You can contact me too if you have any queries about Bone Marrow Donor Programme. I will be more than happy to help!
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