Renowned celebrities urged people to register themselves as potential blood stem cell donor and be a lifesaver

Renowned celebrities urged people to register themselves as potential blood stem cell donor and be a lifesaver

Renowned celebrities

This World Blood Cancer Day, DKMS BMST Foundation India, a non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and other blood disorders, launched their digital campaign #ItsYourTurnNow with an aim to create awareness on the importance of registering as a potential blood stem cell donor, the campaign kickstarted on May 28 where over 100 influencers like Harsha Bhogle, Jatin Sapru, Prachi Desai, Meghashree, Anto Phillip, Vijayshankar, The Jordindian, Natasha Bharadwaj, Monica dogra, Surabhi Lakshmi and Swasika posted on the campaign and appealed for more and more people to register themselves as a potential lifesaver!

Every 5 minutes someone in India is diagnosed with blood cancer and most often a blood stem cell transplant is the only treatment option for them to survive. For a successful blood stem cell transplant, stem cells from a matching donor is required. The campaign focused to spread this message, the hashtag #ItsYourTurnNow saw over 1000 posts and participation by people from across the country in a span of 24 hours. The influencers came together to share a collaborative message and to highlight the fact that just 5 minutes from our daily routine can make a huge difference in the life of blood cancer patients. Within the first few days of the launch of this campaign, the foundation has received over 200 online registrations and engaged around 50 million social media followers.

Talking about the campaign, Patrick Paul, CEO, DKMS BMST Foundation India said “Blood cancer accounts for 8% of all new cases of cancer diagnosed in India. Many patients suffering from blood cancer and other blood disorders need a blood stem cell transplant to survive. Every year over 70,000 new searches are initiated worldwide for an unrelated matching donor.  Unfortunately, the majority of patients are never able to receive a transplant due to the unavailability of a matching blood stem cell donor. In India, only 0.03% of the total population is registered as a potential blood stem cell donor.  Hence, through this collaboration, we urge people to join the fight against blood cancer in India by registering as potential blood stem cell donors.

Speaking about the central idea of the theme and importance of 5 minutes, Anto Philip, CEO and co-founder – Under 25 said, “With everyone being stuck indoors, we all have found more than enough ways to spend our time doing various things during this lockdown. From board games to household chores to make-up routines and workouts, each of us make time for that one thing that makes us happy throughout the day. Instead, we could use five minutes of our time, to help give a blood cancer patient a second chance at life. It just takes 5 minutes to register as a potential blood stem cell donor.”

This year’s theme of World Blood Cancer Day focuses on personal commitment and our contribution to help blood cancer patients. The first step to this would be for us to register ourselves as potential blood stem cell donors and help patients get a second chance at life.”

To become a potential blood stem cell donor all you need to do is register with DKMS-BMST as a blood stem cell donor through their online portal: www.dkms-bmst.org/register

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