SIBU: The Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society and the Malaysian Stem Cell Registry are co-organising a Stem Cell Donor Drive on 21st October 2017, at Level 8, Wisma Hua Wen Du Zhong, Sibu. Members of the public are invited to attend the stem cell talk, taking place from 3pm – 5pm. As of September 2017, there are 29,300 registered volunteers in MSCR and only 572 out of that number are of Sarawakian ethnicity. This makes finding a matching donor for a Sarawakian patient low.
Any Malaysian aged 18-50 and free from chronic diseases, can register as a donor volunteer at Sibu’s first ever Stem Cell Donor Drive, and potentially save a life.
The talk will cover the following topics: How does stem cell donorship help somebody, how to be eligible to become a donor, the process of stem cell donation, and what the steps are to becoming a donor. The sign-up will start after the talk, in the same venue. There will also be a free health screening provided, on a first come first served basis for talk attendees, by KPJ Sibu Specialist Hospital, the main sponsor of this event.
The public can also find out more about childhood cancer signs and symptoms, SCCS services, sign up for the SCCS Monthly Donation Program, and purchase SCCS merchandise at this event. Malaysian Stem Cell Registry (MSCR) is a collaboration between Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Ministry of Health and National Cancer Council Malaysia (MAKNA).
MSCR is essentially a database of volunteers in the Malaysian community who are open to donate blood stem cells to matching patients undergoing blood stem cells transplantation. The increasing number of patients suffering from bloodrelated diseases (such as leukaemia, aplastic anaemia, lymphoma, etc.) each year has resulted in greater demand for blood stem cells transplantation for the treatments. Blood stem cells are the main blood cells responsible in producing other blood components such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
The blood stem cells transplantation from healthy individuals to patients suffering from bloodrelated diseases can help patients to recover and become healthy again. The donation of blood stem cell is carried out via the peripheral blood vessel (apheresis method).
However, to proceed further with the stem cell transplantation, the donor’s blood stem cell should have compatible Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) with the patient. The HLA compatibility between donor and patient is influenced by genetic factors. Only 30% of patients have HLA compatibility among their siblings, making them eligible for blood stem cell transplantation. The remaining 70% need to find matching HLA from unrelated donor in blood stem cells volunteer database such as Malaysia’s MSCR or from other databases/ registries abroad.
Therefore, Malaysian citizens especially Sarawakians are highly encouraged to pledge themselves as potential blood stem cell donors to increase the percentage in finding a compatible donor for patients from Sarawak. One can register as a member of MSCR by contacting the officer in MSCR by email: mscr@imr.gov.my or phone: 03-26162790/ 2780.
