2023-10-19 20:11:00
Fight against leukemia19. October 2023 10:11 p.m. by editorial team all-in.deOn Wednesday, the Kolping Academy Kaufbeuren is organizing a typing campaign for stem cell donors. (Symbolic photo)IMAGO / Funke Photo Services
For Anja Mock from the Kolping Academy in Kaufbeuren, the topic of leukemia was very far away. But three years ago her best friend fell ill with it. After a difficult year of chemotherapy and stem cell donation, her friend lost her battle with blood cancer. During this time, however, Mock met those affected in the hospital who survived thanks to stem cell donations. This motivated the 48-year-old to start her own campaign.
Typing campaign for stem cell donors on Wednesday in Kaufbeuren
Together with the Kolping Academy works council, Anja Mock is organizing a typing campaign for stem cell donors. Her appeal: “It’s everyone’s business! I wish everyone who is healthy continued good health. My request to you: put a stick in your mouth, have data recorded and perhaps save a life at some point!”
The typing campaign will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the hall of the Kolping Academy in Kaufbeuren (Adolph-Kolping-Str. 2a). The typing is free of charge for participants. The “Aktion Bone Marrow Donation Bavaria” foundation (AKB) covers the costs of 35 euros per person.
Healing thanks to blood stem cell donation
Leukemia and other blood formation disorders, such as anemia or immunodeficiencies, can now be cured by transferring blood stem cells from a donor. Everyone who gets typed helps save lives. In principle, anyone between the ages of 17 and 45 who is healthy and in good physical shape can register as a stem cell donor. You can even donate blood stem cells up to the age of 60.
Who is not allowed to participate?
In order to protect the donor and eliminate risks for the recipient as much as possible, there are restrictions on donors. For example, anyone who has had cardiac arrhythmias requiring treatment, coronary heart disease, poorly controlled high blood pressure, bypass surgery or a heart attack is not allowed to donate. Diseases of the blood, the blood coagulation system or the blood vessels also prevent stem cell donation. These include, for example, leg vein thrombosis, blood clotting disorders and thalassemia. There is also no stem cell donation for respiratory and kidney diseases, for example severe asthma or kidney failure.
For allergy sufferers, it depends on the type of allergy. Not everyone is automatically a reason for exclusion from blood stem cell donation. Allergies should therefore be stated during the typing process. Other obstacles include hepatitis C or unhealed hepatitis B, HIV infection, malaria, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, psychoses, multiple sclerosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, diabetes mellitus and hyperthyroidism. However, an underactive thyroid is not an exclusion criterion. Further information on exclusion criteria is available from the typing campaign, from your family doctor or from the typing societies.
Blood stem cell donation: This is how it works
Anyone who has themselves typed should know what to expect if they are actually considered for a blood stem cell donation. With peripheral blood stem cell donation, the donor first receives medication to stimulate the blood stem cells in the body. This takes about four days. During this time, some of the blood-forming stem cells enter the circulating blood for a short time. The donor is connected to a cell separator (a centrifuge that can separate the blood into its components) on the fifth day of mobilization. The stem cells are collected from the donor’s peripheral blood. This procedure takes approximately three to five hours and is performed on an outpatient basis. In 80 percent of all requested donations, the transplant surgeons choose this procedure to obtain blood stem cells.
According to current research, long-term effects have not been proven. The second possible method: puncture of the iliac crest. The removal of the blood stem cells from the iliac crest takes about an hour and is carried out under general anesthesia. The donor is allowed to leave the clinic the next day.
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