Have you ever heard of stem cells? Maybe you have heard of stem cells but aren’t quite sure what they are, what they do, and how stem cell donors can save someone’s life.
Today is October 14th, Stem Cell Awareness Day, a wonderful opportunity to learn more about stem cell donation. This day brings organizations and individuals (like you!) from around the world together to learn more about the benefits of stem cells. So let us celebrate the thousands of lives that have been saved and the many more to be saved.
This is the first blog post of a new series about the need for stem cell donations –particularly from members of minority populations. In future posts, you will learn some basic facts about stem cells, why there’s a need for donors, what is involved in donating, and how to register to become a donor.
By the end of the stem cell blog series, you will be able to tell your friends and family about stem cells, what it means to be a donor, the facts about stem cell donation, and what to expect as a donor.
Did you know that the African-American community receives fewer stem cell transplants than the White community? You may be asking, but why?
The reason is because there are not enough suitable donors in the registry.
According to Dr. Horowitz at the Medical College of Wisconsin "The National Marrow Donor Program has made great strides in increasing the number of African-American donors, which is important because non-related donors are more likely to have a tissue type that matches the patient if they are of the same ethnic group". The characteristics used for finding a match are inherited, which means people are more likely to match someone of the same race. This is true for both bone marrow and stem cells but today we are focusing on stem cells.
Specifically speaking, the African-American’s community is in great need for stem cell donors. Studies have found that the African-American community is at a higher risk for sickle cell disease, diabetes and cancer all of which have promising new research indicating that stem cell transplants may be a way to treat these conditions.
Did you know that:
1 in 400 African-American babies have sickle cell disease
African-American’s are 1.8 times more likely to have diabetes
African-American’s have the highest mortality rate of any racial and ethnic group for all cancers combined and most major cancers
Do you have some free time? Want to learn more about stem cells and the African-American community? Here is a wonderful video by Dr. Ruha Benjamin talking about science, stem cells and culture.
In the next stem cell blog, you will learn more of the basic facts about stem cells, what they are, who would need them and what the controversy is about.
About Mai Smith
Hi! I’m Mai and I am a candidate at Tufts University School of Medicine for a Masters in Public Health concentrating in global health. I am originally from Japan but grew up in California and moved to Boston about a year ago so I am still adjusting to the East Coast way of life!
I completed my undergraduate work at the University of Utah where I received a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Education with a concentration in community health with a minor in child development and family studies. After my Masters in Public Health, I plan to pursue a Masters in Social Work to combine my public health background with social work to help vulnerable communities and families. My background includes working with refugees and asylum seekers, parents with drug addictions, those with severe mental illness and women seeking mental health guidance. I am particularly interested in resiliency and the long term outcomes associated with family dynamics. I am very excited to be a part of the CC intern team and to learn more about the CC community.