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By: Tejas Yerramilli - 07/27/2024
With the rapid progress of today’s digital world, the spread of misinformation, especially that of medical topics, has spread quickly across the internet. If a person sees a false fact or statistic online, they might talk about it with people in their lives, or even post about it themselves, thus spreading something untrue that could be harmful to someone’s health. In the case of blood diseases and the donation of stem cells, there are a few common misconceptions that can cause confusion and hesitation, therefore hindering the ability to save lives.
Understanding Blood Diseases
Leukemia, although likely the most well-known blood disease, is just one of many, and these diseases include types of severe anemia and cancer that usually hinder the body’s ability to make and distribute healthy blood cells.
- Myth: Blood diseases are ALWAYS fatal
- Fact: Although some blood diseases have high mortality rates, many can be treated with the aid of catching it early
- Myth: Only the elderly have/get blood diseases
- Fact: People of all ages can have blood diseases
Donating
The donation of stem cells by a donor who is a proven match with the patient is often life-saving, and can offer a potential cure to many suffering from a variety of different blood diseases.
- Myth: The donation of stem cells is extremely painful and can be dangerous for the donor
- Fact: Stem cell donations are safe and involve at most minimal discomfort for the donor
- Myth: ONLY family members can be possible donors for patients suffering from blood disease
- Fact: Although it is true that family members are often good matches for patients due to their similar genetic makeups (which is why donations from siblings, who share the most similar genetic makeup to the patient are common), completely unrelated donors from registries found across the country are also possible matches for patients in need
- Myth: Donating stem cells PERMANENTLY weakens your immune system
- Fact: Donating stem cells does not permanently weaken one’s immune system, although there might be some temporary side effects after donation, such as nausea or dizziness
- Myth: Stem cell donation requires the donor to stay at the hospital for a lengthy amount of time
- Fact: Stem cell donation is almost always an outpatient procedure, meaning the donor will usually go home the same day they donate
Ethnic Diversity in Donating
One of the most common misconceptions is that a donor’s ethnic background does not factor into the process of a patient finding a match. This is completely false. A person’s ethnic background is a large factor to consider when finding a potential match, which is why SAMI’s mission is so relevant. With South Asian donors only taking up 3% of the total registry, many patients in need of a donor are going without one.
- Myth: Recruitment efforts for donors do not need to consider ethnic diversity
- Fact: With the vast majority of the registry being comprised of Caucasian donors, targeted recruitment (like what is being done at SAMI) is extremely important in order to maximize the number of lives saved
- Myth: Different ethnic groups have the same genetic markers as others
- Fact: The matching process is based on different HLA types, and these vary drastically between ethnic groups, which is why it is so crucial to have as many donors as possible representing them
Wrap-up
In conclusion, misinformation is running rampant throughout the world, and its impact on the world of medicine has been devastating. People being uneducated about the importance of joining a registry for donating has forced an untold number of patients to go without potentially life-saving donors, especially in ethnic minorities. The number of people with blood diseases is not going down, and the need for donors from ethnic minorities has never been higher. If you are reading this and are not on a registry, please consider signing up. The number of South Asians around the world has recently surged to over 2 billion, and a 3% share in registries is simply nowhere close to enough to accommodate the number of people who are in need of donors.
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