‘I need a man’: Ethnic donors desperately needed for bone marrow registry

VANCOUVER – Daljit Sanders is 28 years old and living with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

As a South Asian woman she thought she was going to die due to the lack of suitable donors on the registry. However, she is lucky because a donor match has now been found. But there are thousands of people still waiting for a donor match.

Sanders was diagnosed in January. “South Asian people need a South Asian donor,” she says and the preferred donor is a man between the age of 17 and 35.

“Men have bigger bones,” says Sanders.

Ethnic men, between the ages of 17 and 35, have been in need for a long time. Sanders says she knows first-hand how difficult the waiting process can be.

“I know, as a minority, my chances of finding a donor are… lower than the general public,” she says. “We need men, we need men of different colours.” Statistically, someone of Asian descent has an 84 per cent chance of finding a willing and matching donor.

Women are not excluded from donating but men are the optimal donors.

“We’re asking young men to step forward because we do have a particular need for young men to register as they have been deemed as the optimal donor patients in need of transplant,” said Mary Lynn Pride from Canadian Blood Services.

Sanders is now trying to raise awareness about the need for ethnic donors as she waits for news about her transplant. As she also has multiple sclerosis, that is causing some complications for her procedure.

But she is keeping a positive attitude and is trying to help others who are also in need. “I’m trying to take an international approach to the campaign,” she says. “A donor can come from anywhere in the world.”

She hopes soon to launch the ‘I need a man’ campaign to highlight the need for male donors.

Sanders will also be holding a donor drive on Jan. 18 at Vancouver’s Ross Street Temple from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. People are encouraged to come down and learn more about the process and sign up.

“South Asian people are less than four per cent of the registry and we’re more than four per cent of the population,” says Sanders. “And the numbers are so small for African-Canadians, it’s heartbreaking.”

“You never know if someone can help.”

Daljit Sanders will  be posting updated information on her Facebook page.

You can sign up to become a donor at onematch.ca and learn more about the campaign at willyoumarrowme.com.