Press
The majority of stem cell donors at the DKMS in Germany are white. This can be a problem for black leukemia patients.
“This time it’s really about origin,” says singer Rola on Instagram: She calls on the BIPOC community to register as stem cell donors with the DKMS. Why? Because black people or people with diverse migration backgrounds have a harder time finding a donor in Germany.
At DKMS Germany, most donors are of German descent, followed by donors of Turkish and Polish descent. This has consequences, as figures from the USA suggest. There, people of white ethnicity have a 77 percent chance of finding a non-relative donor. For people of Hispanic, indigenous, Asian or African descent, the chance is only 46 to 23 percent.
“This trend is also confirmed by doctors in this country,” says a spokeswoman for the DKMS BuzzFeed News Germany from IPPEN.MEDIA.
The Sylt video also dealt with origins, but in a racist way, which is not surprising to an expert
Finding a stem cell donor: “Unlikely among my white friends”
Virginia Abeso Monsuy from Leipzig has a “father” from Mozambique and a mother from Germany, or so she says herself. In spring 2022, she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a precursor to acute leukemia. A few months later, acute leukemia (blood cancer) broke out. Several cycles of chemotherapy followed to eliminate the cancer cells from her blood. It quickly became clear that she needed a stem cell donation.
As BIPO* Abeso Monsuy is one of the leukemia patients in Germany who had a harder time finding a stem cell donor. “The doctors told me right from the start that I would probably not find a suitable donor among my white friends,” says the 33-year-old BuzzFeed News Germany. Nevertheless, they typify – without success. Her roommate from Vietnam had a similar experience.
The chance of a 100 percent match was very low, says Abeso Monsuy. In the DKMS database, a stem cell donor was finally found whose values matched hers by 80 percent. “I didn’t care, the main thing was that he could save me,” says the soccer coach from Saxony. Today she knows that her donor has a similar background. “I don’t think anyone who is completely German could have donated,” she says.
World Blood Cancer Day
World Blood Cancer Day (WBCD), which was launched by DKMS in 2014, is intended to raise awareness of blood cancer and stem cell donation in order to give as many patients as possible a second chance at life. Therefore, the WBCD is the ideal event for all those interested in becoming a stem cell donor or To become a stem cell donor. Click here to Registration form.
More on the topic: Why single mothers have a hard time in Germany
Stem cell donation: “I feel somehow connected to him”
In December 2022, the 33-year-old received her stem cell donation: As far as she knows, her donor’s bone marrow was taken peripherally from his arm. Similar to a four-hour blood draw. When the young woman is on the road to recovery in spring 2023, she writes him a letter. This is done via the DKMS, anonymously at first, after two years contact details can be exchanged. (Similar to sperm donation)
What do you say to the person who saved your life? “I think I wrote thank you a thousand times,” says Abeso Monsuy. “You just start writing, you don’t think too much.” Of course she wrote to her stem cell donor to tell them how she was and that she had gotten through it all OK. She didn’t receive a reply for a year.
![After her stem cell donation, Virginia Abeso Monsuy is working again as a coach for a girls’ soccer team at RB Leipzig.](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/669/34669355-virginia-abeso-monsuy-arbeitet-nach-ihrer-stammzellenspende-wieder-als-trainierin-einer-maedchenfussballmanschaft-beim-rb-leipzig-NXBG.jpg)
Until now: “Yesterday there was a letter in the mailbox,” she says BuzzFeed News Germany excited. “That’s so amazing!” Will she reply to him again? “Definitely,” says the 33-year-old. “I’ll thank him a thousand times for writing.” Maybe she’ll also tell him that thanks to him she’s “top fit” again, goes to the gym, trains little girls at RB Leipzig again and even wants to play football again herself.
This is an article by BuzzFeed News Germany. We are part of the IPPEN.MEDIAnetwork. Here you can find all contributions from BuzzFeed News Germany.
She has an appointment at the outpatient clinic next week anyway, and she will hand in the letter then. “I want to get to know him,” says Abeso Monsuy. After all, she has his cells in her body, and even his blood type. “I feel somehow connected to him. Although I don’t know him, he is one of the most important people in my life.”
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