Blood Stem Cell Awareness Drive at DSBA

NSS unit at DSBA organized a session on Blood Stem Cell Awareness by Datri on 13^th April 2017 between 10 am to 1 pm for all the students. The session was held in the ground floor seminar hall. The programme was coordinated by Prof Kasthuri NSS Program Officer and NSS volunteers helped in the organization.              

DATRIs noble mission is to spread awareness on Blood Cancer and other fatal blood disorders which is curable through a Blood Stem Cell Transplant from a matched donor. DATRI is registered member with World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) and follows WMDA guidelines and processes. DATRI is also registered with Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW). 

 Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry is a not for profit organization set up to save lives of people suffering with life threatening blood disorders like Leukaemia, Thalassemia Lymphoma etc.It is working towards creating a wide and diverse database of potential blood stem cell donors that can be accessed by any patient, living anywhere in the world, in need of a blood stem cell transplant. Through systematic donor drives, DATRI seeks to build awareness and enroll potential blood stem cell donors.

Mr. Srinivas, the facilitator addressed the students and told them that anyone in the age group of 18-50 years can register as a volunteer donor, thereby taking the first step in saving a life. He said that till date, DATRI has over 1,88,000 registered donors and has facilitated 235 blood stem cell donations. 18 of these donations have been for patients being treated overseas.

 He enlightened the students about BMDW which is an international organization that coordinates and provides a platform to search for matching donor from among the affiliated registries across the globe. Every affiliated registry provides the HLA type of their registered donors without sharing any personal identifiable information. Transplant Physicians and registries across the world can search for a match for their patients on this BMDW platform. 

 Since many students volunteered to register with Datri Mr. Srinivas recounted the details:

• Attend the awareness session 
• Fill up an application form/consent form 
• Give a cheek swab sample   

And one does not have to donate during the registration process.

Then he shared the details about the donation process - When one is found to be a match:   

• Small amount of blood sample is drawn for confirmatory typing  
• Donor undergoes a complete Master health check-up
• Increase and mobilize blood stem cells to the peripheral blood flow using Filgrastim injection for 5 days prior to donation.
• On the fifth day, the excess blood stem cells are collected using a method called Apheresis similar to a platelet donation.
• The entire donation process takes about 3-4 hours

 

Before the registration process the students were shown a 3-min presentation for a complete understanding of what they do.

He inspired the students by mentioning that thousands of patients suffering from life-threatening blood disorders were waiting for a blood stem cell donor. He said: “You or someone you know could be a match.”

 

 

 

It was a successful drive as the enthusiastic students without further ado completed the registration process. Many faculties joined in and in all 115 registered!

 

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