Every 28 minutes someone in Australia is diagnosed with blood cancer, and for many a blood stem cell transplant from a complete stranger is their only hope.

Are you 18-30 years old? If so, you could save a life! Joining the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABDMR) will increase the chances of those in need finding a possible match.

The best chance of a cure is a stem cell match from a person’s family but more often than not that isn’t possible. Therefore the next best chance of a cure is from a person of the same ethnic background. However, the ethnic diversity of donors registered on the ABMDR is skewed towards North West Europeans and the balance of the ethnic groups are largely under-represented. Gift of Life Australia is committed to increasing the prevalence of under-represented ethnic groups on the ABMDR to increase the chances of a member of that ethnic group receiving a life-saving donor match.

One’s ethnic group is determined by your ancestral history not necessarily where you are born. Where your parents, grandparents even great-grandparents were born and their associated blood lines determine your ethnicity.

We are therefore encouraging our community to get involved by joining the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Register.

The more ethnically diverse the donor registry the more people we can save.

Currently you can register to become a donor through the ABMDR by way of a blood sample the next time you donate blood, opt to receive a home-delivered cheek swab kit or if you know of a specific patient needing a donor and have received an appeal code.

Gift of Life Australia actively participated in the successful Strength to Give program in 2020. This initiative used cheek swabbing and was piloted by the ABDMR with Government funding. The Strength ti Give program demonstrated that this was a more efficient way to grow the number of potential donors on the bone marrow register.