About Our Marrow Donors

There are all types of people, and we know we need all types of donors in our registry to help those that may be diagnosed with leukemia and other blood diseases. We see this goal as central to our mission in the fight against leukemia across all borders, mentalities and cultures.

A person's tissue type is directly related to ethnic origin. Many patients in the U.S. are of mixed ethnic backgrounds, so it's important to have a donor pool that reflects different backgrounds. That's why we've launched donor drive campaigns to increase the diversity of our donor registry.

Age and gender distribution are also important. DKMS has a pool of donors, male and female, between 18 and 60 that help build futures.

Quick facts about our donors:

• DKMS makes up 13% of worldwide registered unrelated stem cell donors and 22% of NMDP registered donors.
• 19% of all DKMS donors are under 30 years old and DKMS had developed a special program to recruit younger donors to meet market demand.
• Up to October 2004, 40% of DKMS registered donors, who have actually donated, were young males (under 35 years old).
• Out of the 1.8 million DKMS donors, more than 620K are AB-DR typed and over 209K are high resolution typed. A full 16% of the NMDP DR-typed donors are from DKMS.
• During work-up, 98% of DKMS donors actually donate. DKMS has a high availability at the CT level and screens its donors very carefully.