Male bone-marrow donors aged 18 to 40 sought
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 @ 12:53 PM
HEALTH authorities in Spain are calling for men aged between 18 and 40 to sign up as bone-marrow donors in a massive campaign that seeks to create a 'bank' of available givers.
Un Match x Una Vida ('One Match for Life') is a joint effort between the National Transplant Organisation (ONT), regional and national governments and the charity run by globally-famous Catalunya-born opera singer, the International José Carreras Foundation Against Leukaemia.
The campaign name, according to acting health minister María Luisa Carcedo, is based upon dating sites and Apps and the difficult task of finding the right partner, or match.
Why men under 40?
The Spanish Registry of Bone-Marrow Donors (REDMO) says the substance needed – a spongey tissue inside the bone which creates red blood cells, and which can fail in leukaemia patients or can be destroyed by aggressive chemotherapy – is 'at its most useful' when the person donating is aged between approximately 18 and 40.
And although female donors are very welcome, the register is already made up of 63% women, meaning it has a shortage of male donors.
Also, says director-general of the ONT, Dr Beatriz Domínguez, men are more likely to be called up to donate – three times more likely, in fact – since their bone marrow seems to give better results when transplanted.
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