The Matching Problem: Canada Faces Stem Cell Donor Imbalances
Canadian Blood Services aims to boost stem cell donations from the Black and other minority communities, as it faces an outstanding gap in donor diversity in Canada.
“These things are overlooked. It’s not a top priority for a lot of things,” said Terri Mills.
According to recent research, a current shortage of Black stem cell donors in Canada is preventing a significant number of treatments from happening. As of January 2021, Black Canadians make up less than two per cent of the national stem cell registry.
“An hour or two before my shift that day. And so I didn’t know that I was actually diagnosed with this until afterwards,” said Aleena Seale.
“I had to do a bunch of blood work after the appointment and at first I wasn’t really concerned, because I thought it was just going to be a simple thing to fix, I also didn’t know what leukemia was.”
There are more than 1,000 patients in Canada who are waiting for transplants with a stem cell match, who are heavily relying on donors that are unrelated. However, Patients from Black backgrounds are stuck with lower odds of finding a match compared to other racialized groups.
Family members can be a match, but the chance of a full sibling match is only 25 per cent, leaving most without a biological match relying on donors.
“Since I’m getting that back, hopefully I’ll be able to go out a lot more,” said Seale.
“Things you never really realize you take advantage of until it’s taken from you.”
Specialists from Canadian Blood Services say this imbalance matters because the chances of stem cell matches increase when the patient and donor are from similar ancestries, directly altering the match chances of those with lower registry percentages
“It can be extremely difficult to try and define a match and for many years, patients can go unmatched,” said Victoria Bleecker, a chapter development leader at the Stem Cell Club.
“Especially since if the match is not found within the family, you may be searching for years and this is time that patients may or may not have time for,”
Researchers have pinpointed some components and potential reasons for the outstanding shortage may include eligibility requirements that limit participation by minority groups, an absence of awareness and distrust of the healthcare environment.
“It takes five minutes to do a cheek swab, you get added to a registry and you can help anyone in the world,” said Bleecker
“It’s really just a simple and easy thing to do and it can be super meaningful for these patients,”
Multiple organizations and community groups across Canada continue to promote donor registrations to help close the significant gap and improve survival rates, but remains a slow process.
“You’re becoming a hero to somebody and you’re saving a life,” said Mills
“I talk to people when they do come in to donate to somebody they don’t even know, never met, know nothing about them and they’re willing to do this to save a life,”