Bone marrow donation sought for Martin Mitterer

Bone marrow donation: hundreds follow typing campaign for Martin Mitterer

28/02/2011

Hundreds of volunteers followed the joint appeal of the father of Martin Mitterer and the Foundation Action bone marrow donation Bavaria (AKB). 736 volunteers have been typed in the City Hall of Inzell by a blood donation as a potential bone marrow or stem cell donor for the leukemia-affected doctor.

Bone donation: 736 volunteers can be typed
The support of the typing campaign had been overwhelming, rejoiced the father of the person concerned, Johann Mitterer, the coordinator of the AKB, Manuela Ortmann, the AKB-director dr. Hans Knabe and the head of the BRK, Hubert Pointner about the crowd in the town hall. Almost 50 percent of the donors were from Inzell and Weißbach (hometown of the young doctor) come, but also donors were other communities in the districts of Traunstein, Berchtesgadener Land and Rosenheim present, said the people in charge. The participants of the AKB were impressed by the excellent preparatory work that was done by the family of the person concerned together with many friends and helpers. The AKB managers also rated the average age of the potential donors, which was around 30 years, as positive - expressing the great sense of responsibility of the young people.

Young doctor already suffering from leukemia in 2006
The young doctor Martin Mitterer was already in 2006 for the first time at one „Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma“ (Tumor in the lymphatics). At that time, however, with the help of intensive chemotherapy, the cancer was successfully treated for the time being. Now, however, Martin Mitterer must once again fight against cancer, with a bone marrow or stem cell donation for his chances of recovery would be urgently needed. Therefore, the relatives and friends have started the current typing campaign together with the AKB. The coordinator of the AKB, Manuela Ortmann, then explained that the evaluation of the taken blood samples will now take about six to eight weeks, until it is clear whether a suitable donor was among the volunteers. However, Martin Mitterer is currently doing relatively well after antibiotic treatment and blood transfusion, so the waiting period should not cause major problems, the father emphasized. The young physician has been discharged from the clinic and now hopes that his relatively stable condition will continue until a donor is found and a new chemotherapy can be started.

Exemplary commitment to typing action
Altogether eleven employees of the AKB, 25 helpers of the BRK readiness Inzell as well as some medical assistants from Inzell and environment were involved in the collection of the donor data and the blood samples, explained the coordinator of the AKB. Friends and relatives of Martin Mitterer also provided food for the donors and were ready to be briefed at the parking lots. In addition to home-made cakes, the drinks and snacks from companies in Inzell and the surrounding area were provided free of charge. All in all, the commitment was exemplary, so the conclusion of those responsible. His father, Johann Mitterer, thanked all the donors in the name of his son and his family, the mayors Martin Hobmaier from Inzell and Klaus Bauregger from Schneizlreuth and the helpers who in some way participated in the typing campaign. To cover the costs of around 40 euros per typing, 6,238 euros were donated during the campaign on Saturday. In view of the comprehensive support, Johann Mitterer expressed his confidence that he would soon find a possible donor for his son.

Persuasion for bone marrow and stem cell donation
The AKB manager Dr. Ing. As part of the current typing campaign, Hans Knabe emphasized that only ten percent (four million) of the potential donors in the 30 different donor files have been recorded nationwide so far. Far too little, as Dr. Boy underlined. Although 240,000 people had been typified in Bavaria alone to date, providing them with adequate bone marrow and stem cell donations, according to the expert, is far from sufficient. In the future much more education and convincing work will have to be done here. Boy. (Fp)

Image: Herbert Käfer