ON BONE MARROW DONATIONS

MPP Anand’s seventeenth Members’ Statement was on the topic of “Bone Marrow Donations”, delivered on 1 May 2019.

See full transcript below:

“Bone marrow transplants, also called stem cell transplants, treat over 80 diseases and disorders, including certain forms of cancer. A patient’s diseased bone marrow is replaced with healthy stem cells from a donor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to raise awareness for the bone marrow registry. On any given day, there are about 1,000 Canadians on a waiting list for a bone marrow transplant. Three out of four patients rely on external bone marrow donors. Finding a potential donor is not an easy job, especially among South Asians, where there’s a one-in-a-million chance because of the extremely low donor registration rate.

I would like to recognize a charity, Match For Marrow, from the GTA, which has partnered with Canadian Blood Services and other international organizations to raise awareness for bone marrow registries. Match For Marrow was founded in 2010 when Jasnoor Deol was diagnosed with blood cancer and his family wanted to help him. Jasnoor has been waiting nine years for a transplant and still hasn’t found a donor. I commend the efforts of Match For Marrow.

Mr. Speaker, South Asians only make up 5% of the worldwide bone marrow/stem cell network. I want to talk about a youth, Avinash, who passed away on April 21 after waiting for three years for a potential donor he was not able to find.

I encourage everyone to get involved and spread awareness and, for further information, go to www.onematch.ca.”