When East London’s Bradley Peters (23) signed up with Matches on the Map, an inter-continental stem cell recruitment drive, he had no idea that he would be a potential match for someone living in South America.
The apprentice mechanic had signed up at an awareness drive last year, and six months later, was told that his stem cells would be able to save another person’s life thousands of kilometres away.
He told IOL that when he got the call, “I wasn’t sure if it was a scam as I had forgotten I had signed up to the SA Bone Marrow Registry”.
He said he had no idea that a cheek swab would be the beginning of saving someone’s life.
“After I received the call, the SABMR set the wheels in motion to conduct the necessary testing to confirm whether I was a suitable match,” he added.
Matches on the Map was started in September 2023 by Mpumalanga couple Robin and Jolandie Lewis.
Robin himself is a stem cell transplant survivor after he was diagnosed with Fanconi anaemia, a genetic DNA repair disorder that can lead to bone marrow failure, leukaemia, or solid tumours in the body. He underwent a stem cell transplant in 2018.
He said finding the initiative’s first match was a huge motivation.
“Finding our first match in Bradley has hugely motivated us to keep pushing onwards. We’ve been on the road for 19 months and held successful recruitment drives in eSwatini, Lesotho and South Africa, and are now in Namibia. This has, by far, been the highlight of our project.”
After Namibia, they will be off to Angola, where the SABMR will be assisting with a translator and an additional team member to help recruit stem cell donors.
The chance of finding a suitable stem cell donor match for any patient is one in 100 000 and the odds increase even further based on ethnicity. The donor pool in South Africa is unfortunately not reflective of the country’s population, meaning the chance of finding a donor for patients of colour is almost impossible.
The SABMR is urging healthy people aged 16 to 45 to register and view the donor exclusion criteria at www.sabmr.co.za
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
UK launches global-first study to ID stem cell super donors
Lack of ethnic diversity among donors a problem for SA Bone Marrow Registry
Bone Marrow Registry: SA second country to allow donations from 16-year olds