Help a Dancer: Be the Match

admin February 19, 2016 Dance News No Comment

Dancer with Leukemia In December 2014, Joe Bunn, a dancer with Ballett im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer of the blood cells. After a year of chemotherapy treatments, it has become clear that Bunn will need a bone marrow transplant. What is proving difficult in his recovery, however, is the search for a donor. After three months, no match has been found. With a rare tissue type, Bunn’s likely match would an African-American male; but in reality, anyone could be the right candidate. A worldwide search has commenced to find a match for Bunn, for a transplant that could save his life.

Luckily, there are many organizations and databases that aim to connect those in need of a bone marrow transplant to a donor with a matching tissue type. Anyone can submit their information to a database, such as bethematch.org, and just this 10-minute process could be what saves another’s life. Be the Match asks volunteers to register online and mail in a cheek swab. Then, he/she will be added to the database.

Once a volunteer is a confirmed match for a transplant, only a small amount of blood is required, and all expenses are paid for by Be the Match. Currently, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, only 19 percent of African-Americans who need a transplant find a perfect match, as compared to 75 percent of whites. Help change this statistic by becoming a volunteer today.

“I’ve had people inbox me and say they want to help by getting tested for me, but they would not like to be a donor for others in the database,” Bunn says. “I then explain that if they join, they have a one percent chance of ever being a match for anyone from the beginning. Then they feel like those odds don’t inconvenience their life so much, so they join anyway. But then I tell them that it’s important, that it’s just the right thing to do to save a life in such an easy way.”

Even though Bunn resides in Germany, a match can be found for him worldwide, and each country has its own database. Below is a list of countries and their corresponding organization. Consider becoming a donor today; doing so could save a fellow dancer’s life.

USA: https://join.bethematch.org

Germany: http://www.dkms.de/de/spender-werden

Austria: http://www.stammzellspende.at

Belgium: http://www.mdpb.be

England: https://www.anthonynolan.org.uk

France: http://www.france-adot.org/le-don-de-moelle-osseuse.html

Italy: http://www.ibmdr.galliera.it

Netherlands: https://www.europdonor.nl

Portugal: http://chsul.pt

Slovenia: http://www.ztm.si

Spain: http://www.fcarreras.org/en/

Sweden: http://www.tobiasregistret.se