Drastic decline in marrow donor registrations leave blood cancer patients searching for matches

Family of marrow transplant child reflects on the importance of lifesaving donors

September 24, 2020

kane_goodwin September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and many pediatric patients fighting blood cancers are facing a new uncertainty because of the COVID-19 pandemic — fewer people are signing up to be lifesaving marrow or stem cell donors.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) is encouraging individuals age 18 to 44 and in general good health to sign up for the national marrow registry, Be The Match, to support children fighting cancer and searching for their matching donor.

Pioneering San Antonio COVID-19 Lab to Test Thousands of People Per Day to Create COVID-19 Safety Zones

BioBridge Global

Community Labs, a new nonprofit organization, has launched an innovative laboratory in San Antonio, changing how traditional COVID-19 testing is currently conducted by advances in speed, capacity, accuracy and price, along with a less invasive testing process. Inspired by the work of Scientists to Stop COVID-19 and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Community Labs will start with a capacity of 600 tests a day, scale to 12,000 tests a day, and have the potential to scale significantly in the near future.

Blood supply drops to half of what is needed as blood drives at schools and colleges are canceled

South Texas Blood

The blood supply in South Texas has reached critically low levels, declining to around half of what is needed to adequately serve patients throughout the region.

FDA changes status of convalescent plasma program

South Texas Blood

The Food and Drug Administration has changed the status of COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy from a clinical trial to an Emergency Use Authorization.

Search form

Drastic decline in marrow donor registrations leave blood cancer patients searching for matches