Bone marrow and stem-cell donors needed

Awareness campaign to address myths around lifesaving procedure

BLACK South Africans make up about 47 percent of all cancer patients but only 5 percent of donors in the nation’s bone marrow registry.

The gap between those who may need bone marrow or stem cell transplants and those able to provide them has deadly consequences for cancer patients.

Maphoko Nthane, 50, had experienced mysterious and severe backache for months. Doctors ran test after test but could find nothing wrong.

“I had severe backache for months,” she said. “Whenever I would have that pain, I couldn’t sit down, I had to walk or stand up.”

Doctors eventually diagnosed Nthane with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a severe form of cancer affecting a patient’s blood and bone marrow.

“After I was diagnosed, I thought I was going to die. I didn’t know that people with leukaemia could live,” Nthane said. “My husband was just as traumatised, and as a result, he didn’t know how to support me.”

Nthane’s cancer failed to respond to standard chemotherapy and, ultimately, a stem-cell transplant saved her life.

As part of stem-cell transplants, stem cells are removed from the tissue of donors or, where possible, patients. These cells are usually from human tissues, including bone marrow or fat.

Once removed, the stem cells are given high doses of chemotherapy – higher than what could be administered to patients – before being transplanted into patients in the hope that they will kill other cancerous cells.

Nthane was lucky to find a stem-cell donor.

Latest available figures from the National Cancer Registry show that in 2008, black South Africans comprised about 47 percent of cancer patients.

Only about 4 000 of South Africa’s 68 000 registered bone marrow donors come from the black community, according to the South African Bone Marrow Registry’s spokeswoman Romy Saitowitz, who added that patients’ chances of finding a suitable bone marrow or stem-cell donor are highest among donors of their own ethnic groups.

She added that finding a perfect match was no easy task. Even when donors and patients are from the same ethnic group, the odds of a match are one in 100 000.

“It is a highly specialised process,” Saitowitz said. “It can take our staff anything from weeks to months, depending on the patient’s tissue type.”

To increase the number of black donors, the Gauteng Department of Health has launched a campaign to increase awareness about the importance of becoming a donor among black families.

“We are trying to get people into the habit of donating,” Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said. “If you die in a car crash and your organs are still intact, why not give them to someone who needs them?”

Mahlangu added that beliefs sometimes stood between people and donating.

Makome Modiba from Edenvale is among South Africa’s few thousand black donors.

His family did not initially understand Modiba’s motivation for becoming a donor, he said. “They just didn’t understand why I wanted to do this,” he said. “I had to go home to Limpopo to explain to them… it took a lot of explaining.

“We sometimes hide behind culture,” he added.

As part of the awareness campaign, the Sunflower Fund will be launching an eight-day cycle from Joburg to Cape Town, moving from city to city, interacting with communities and celebrating donors. – Health-e News