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Vital Signs

National Marrow Donor Program Needs More Native American Donors

Each year, more than 30,000 Americans--including hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults and children--die of leukemia, aplastic anemia and other life-threatening blood diseases. Many of these deaths could be prevented with a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant from someone who shares the patient’s tissue type, according to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Because the characteristics of tissue type are inherited, a patient’s most likely donor match is a family member, especially a sibling. But if a matched donor can’t be found within the patient’s family--as is the case with 70% of potential transplant patients--the next best chance of finding a match is with an unrelated person of the same race or ethnicity.

Because only 1% of the approximately 4 million volunteer donors listed in NMDP’s national Registry are American Indians and Alaska Natives, AI/AN patients are less likely than Caucasians to be able to find a matched potential donor. Even though the number of Native volunteers--and the number of life-saving marrow or blood stem cell transplants performed for Native patients--has increased over the past 10 years, there is still an urgent need for more marrow donors from the American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

To help raise awareness of this issue and recruit more AI/AN donors into its Registry, the NMDP has created a culturally competent national education campaign called Keep the Circle Strong. Its message, symbolized by a circle in the form of a traditional Native medicine wheel, is that AI/AN people can keep the circle of life strong for future generations by becoming volunteer marrow or blood stem cell donors. The campaign, which includes a very informative and culturally sensitive educational brochure, is being disseminated through Native media, community groups, American Indian health associations and the Indian Health Service, which is partnering with NMDP for this initiative.

There is no cost for volunteer donors to join the Registry, which can be searched by patients who cannot find a matched donor in their families. Potential donors must be in good health, between the ages of 18 and 60 years old, and must meet the program’s weight guidelines. Qualified volunteers take a blood test to determine their tissue type; the results are listed in the Registry. If a patient contacts the volunteer as a potential match, the volunteer must take additional blood tests to confirm that he or she is a match with the patient.

Ray Williams, a member of the Swinomish tribe and a recruiter/educator for the Washington State Native American Marrow Donor Program, eloquently sums up the need for an initiative like Keep the Circle Strong. He says, “There is a call that is being sent out to all of Indian Country. It speaks of ownership and responsibility for those who are healthy and have Indian blood running through their veins. This is a call from some of our Indian brothers and sisters who are not well, who need our assistance to bring them back to the healing circle of strength.”

For more information about the Keep the Circle Strong campaign, contact the National Marrow Donor Program at (800) MARROW-2 or visit www.marrow.org/NMDP/aian.html.