Typing blood stem cell donation saves lives

Large typing campaign for leukemia Sabrina in Kassel

02/11/2012

Sabrina from Kassel, who is suffering from leukemia, continues to fight for her life. The 22-year-old urgently needs a blood stem cell donation. To find a suitable donor, a large-scale typing campaign in the Markuskirche in Kassel is planned for next Saturday.

With typing suitable donor can be found for blood stem cells
Sabrina suffers from a particularly aggressive form of leukemia. In order to save the life of the 22-year-old woman, she needs a transplantation of blood stem cells as soon as possible. So far, however, no suitable donor could be found, whose tissue characteristics match those of Sabrina. Therefore, on Saturday, November 3, there will be a typing campaign in Markuskirche, Richard-Wagner-Straße 6 A in Kassel. The action is supervised by Andrea Lautenschläger of the German Stem Cell Donor Center in Frankfurt.

Those who are already typed should not give a blood sample a second time on Saturday. „That just creates confusion“, explains the expert. In addition, unnecessary second typing causes additional costs that should be avoided. For each blood sample would cost about 50 euros laboratory costs. „We urgently need financial help in order to be able to carry out all typing“, explains lute player. It is also important that people who have already been typed and moved have their new address in the regional donor file. If a person with an outdated address is identified as a donor, the address can be determined by the registration office. When typing each sign a corresponding consent, so the expert.

If possible, similar characteristics of donor and recipient for transplantation of blood stem cells
In typing, "only a small amount of blood is withdrawn from the potential donor." Subsequently, "certain tissue characteristics, the so-called HLA types, are examined in the laboratory". Due to the myriad possibilities of tissue memo combinations, finding a suitable donor is often very difficult. The success of a blood stem cell transplant depends largely on the accuracy of matching the HLA characteristics of transmitter and receiver. Any inconsistency in HLA features increases the risk that the transplanted cells will not grow successfully and, for example, the patient will suffer from a so-called graft-versus-host (GvH) reaction. It is a rejection reaction that causes the transplanted immune cells to classify and fight the patient's organs as foreign. If a rejection reaction can not be controlled by medication, it can lead to the death of the patient.

Donations for typing
Those who would like to support the typing campaign for Sabrina can donate locally on Saturday or make a transfer to the following account: German Stem Cell Donor File / ARGE-KMSB, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt
Account number: 723 6680 10, Bank code: 500 700 24, Purpose: Sabrina S. (ag)

Image: Herbert Käfer