CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — As Childhood Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, an organization that helps blood cancer patients find matching donors is reminding Coastal Bend residents that the need for potential donors continues year-round.
September is recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, represented by the color gold. Throughout the month, NMDP has worked to raise awareness about blood cancers and the role potential donors can play in giving patients a second chance at life.
On Sept. 24, Leticia Mondragon with NMDP, formerly known as Be The Match and the National Marrow Donor Program, joined KRIS 6 in the studio with Neighborhood News Reporter Stephanie Molina to discuss the donor registry and share an update on Kingsville’s Emery Ramos, a young girl battling leukemia.
“When you register with NMDP, you not only have the opportunity to help save a life in your local community, but anywhere in the world because it goes back to your ethnic background,” Mondragon said.
Mondragon said one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding donation is that becoming a match automatically means undergoing a painful bone marrow procedure.
She said more than 90% of donations are now peripheral blood stem cell donations, a process she compared to donating platelets, plasma or double red blood cells.
Finding people willing to join the registry is especially important because many patients cannot rely on a relative for a match.
Mondragon said about 75% of blood cancer patients who need a transplant must find an unrelated donor, while about 25% find a match within their family.
The search for a match for Emery continues
For one South Texas family, that search hits especially close to home.
Emery Ramos, a young girl from Kingsville who has been battling leukemia, is currently in remission and recently started second grade.
“Little Princess Emery is doing well,” Mondragon said during the Sept. 24 interview.
But Mondragon emphasized that remission does not necessarily mean a cure. If Emery were to relapse, she could need a blood stem cell transplant.
That’s why the search for a potential match for Emery continues even as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month comes to an end.
“We’re still searching for a match,” Mondragon said. “You could be Emery’s cure or anyone in the world.”
NMDP says a person's ethnic background plays an important role in finding compatible donors, making a diverse registry especially important for patients searching for a match.
While Childhood Cancer Awareness Month may be ending, the need for potential donors does not.
Those interested in joining the NMDP donor registry and potentially helping Emery or another patient in need of a blood stem cell transplant can text HOPE4EMERY to 61474 to learn more and register, or click here.
