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Charities have a big place in our heart. This week we feature The Caribbean Bone Marrow Registry.
Arthur Dunk with 24 years in the field of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and seeing too many individuals of Caribbean descent succumb to their disease, in 2014 decided to launch the Caribbean Bone Marrow Registry and our 501c3 non-profit, World Marrow Fund.
They are dedicated to helping patients stricken with Leukemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and other illnesses in need of a stem cell/ bone marrow transplant, in the region and beyond. The region has a population of 43 million (worldometer.com), and ranks last in the world in finding a match outside of the family. This is due to a lack of enough donors in worldwide registries and the fact that most people from the region are of mixed heritage, which makes it difficult to find a suitable match for a transplant.
The leadership team includes Drs. Ronald Charlton, Medhat Askar and Gillan Wharfe. They have over 100 years of combined experience in the field and have been published twice in Human Immunology, including as part of the 17th international workshop. This was a 10 nation research project that included haplotypes from individuals descended from the region.
A recent transplant patient went back to work a few years ago and they are also supporting 3 others. Our list of patients includes an 11-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago and patients from Iraq and Pakistan, in need of transplants.
Please visit http://www.caribbeanmarrow.org to find out more information and how you can help this cause.
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