the need

Numbers:

Currently there are at least 800 Canadian patients waiting for an unrelated stem cell transplant in this country, with approximately 10% (i.e. 80) being children less than16 years old. At any given time, OneMatch is also searching for stem cell matches for 400 international patients. At any give time, OneMatch is also searching for matches for up to 6000 patients in North America.

OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network
At the end of 2010 there were 266,000 registrants with OneMatch and 15,322,542 (14,872,782 donors and 449,760 CBU's) on the worldwide registry but many patients remain unmatched.

Diseases Treated:

Stem cell transplants are used to treat potentially life-threatening illnesses including:

• Cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma;
• Diseases including aplastic anemia and immune dysfunction; and
• Genetic disorders.
• Traditionally, stem cell transplants have been used to treat only patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphomas or other blood cancers. In recent years, stem cell transplants have been successful in treating patients with renal cell carcinoma, sickle cell disease, neuroblastoma, beta thalassemia major, and autoimmune disorders.

Unrelated (i.e. Non-family) Stem Cell Donors are the norm, not family members:

Fewer than 30% of patients will find a compatible stem cell donor in their family. The remaining 70% of patients rely on the generosity of unrelated donors as sources of stem cells. OneMatch provides patients a single point of access to more than 15 million donors and more than 447,000 cord blood units on the global donor listing.

 

International Sources:

77% of stem cells used to transplant Canadian patients come from international sources through the worldwide bone marrow donor registry.