Over the last five years in Chile, the DKMS Foundation has realized an important fact: in the country, women are the majority among those who seek to give second chances of life for patients with blood cancer.
Of the more than 170,000 potential donors registered with the foundation, nearly 120,000 are women. Also, of the 220 donations that the organization has to date, 115 have been delivered by women.
One of them was the foundation’s 200th donor, Catalina Maldonado. She registered as a potential donor in 2018, after learning the story of Martin Brand, then a nine-year-old boy diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia.
Martín, like many other patients with blood cancer, did not have a 100% compatible donor within his family, so doctors decided to extend the search to unrelated records.
By genetic chance, it is possible to find unrelated people who share compatibility characteristics. The more people registered, the likelihood of finding a donor matched to a patient increases. Each person is a new possibility.
Catalina was looking to be Martin’s donor, but finally matched with another minor. “I agreed to be a donor because giving a few minutes of life to someone, one cannot deny it. It is a second chance at life that one gives and it is impressive how you can have a match, a genetic twin worldwide regardless of age, I am 22 and my Blood Brother is between 9 and 11 years old. I’m happy,” he says.
“Many times, women have been underrepresented in decision-making and leadership spaces in other areas. It is refreshing and motivating to know that in this area, there are many of us who have the opportunity to work together and make a change,” says Ignacia Pattillo, executive director of the Foundation.
On this International Women’s Day, the invitation is to follow the example of these women and register. Doing so is very simple and has no cost.
The requirements are to be between 18 and 55 years old, in good health and live in Chile. Those who comply and want to register must enter the page and follow the steps indicated. In this way, they increase the chances that patients will have a second chance at life.
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