Canadian Blood Services pushing stem cell donation

REGINA – Giving blood can help save a life, but there are other ways to be a hero.

Canadian Blood Services’ “One Match” program allows people to sign up to become stem cell donors to those in need.

Possible donors can go into the clinic and take a simple mouth swab.

Then, they will be included in a registry and alerted if they are a potential match.

One of those matches was Mary Ellen Gennutt, from Saskatchewan.

She joined the registry years before she was called upon to donate her stem cells.

Thanks to her donation back in 2008, five-year-old Ontario resident, Alessandro Cicciarella was able to beat stage four leukemia.

“Had he not received them he wouldn’t have survived,” recalled Gennutt. “Talking to his parents he was that low at that point that his only chance of survival was if he got stem cells.”

Cicciarella is now a cancer-free teenager. Not only did the donation help him beat leukemia, but it also helped his parents find hope during a trying time.

“It’s really hard on parents because my mom, sometimes seeing her outside the hospital door was really hard so I tried to be strong,” said Cicciarella. “But because Mary Ellen helped my parents, they’re really happy and so I think it’s really good to donate and to help other people.”

To find out more information or register, visit www.blood.ca.