A little history about the Sunflower Fund

SUSTAINING AN EFFECTIVE SABMR

The South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) is in desperate need of donors from all ethnic groups and mixed ethnic backgrounds.

Regrettably, the SAMBR does not receive any government funding towards the cost of tissue typing the blood samples and exists solely on donations from the public.

Without financial support the work of the SABMR would come to a complete halt and bone marrow transplantation would no longer be a treatment option in South Africa.
This is why The Sunflower Fund (Friends of the South African Bone Marrow Registry) was formed in 1999.The Sunflower Fund is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa, with a vision to give all South Africans diagnosed with leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders the chance of life, irrespective of their race and financial circumstances.

The Sunflower Fund’s core purpose is to educate, recruit and raise funds to build and sustain an effectiveSABMR as a viable source of well informed ethnically-diverse potential bone marrow donors so as to meet the national and international requirements and improve the chances of life-saving transplants for serious blood disorder sufferers.


Sunflower Achievements

So far, our efforts - with the support of many others - have increased the donor numbers on the SABMR from a mere 1,200 in 1999 to over 65 500 today! Also, since April 2003 to date, The Sunflower Fund spent just over R4 million on tissue typing throughout South Africa. This is a wonderful achievement, yet more needs to be done.

Due to the 1:100 000 chance of finding a compatible donor, at least 100 000 donors are needed for a Registry to function effectively and in South Africa, the Registry should ideally have 400 000 donors representative of all ethnic groups.

Link : http://www.sunflowerfund.org.za/index.php/2011-10-06-09-43-53/our-mission

65, 000 donors is a great achievement but the odds are against this wonderful organisation... If you are over 18, please become a donor and please let your family and friends know about this wonderful organisation and help them save more lives!

Causes of leukemia

So, I found this site which gives a lot of information about leukemia and I have put some part of it here:

Symptoms of leukemia

• Blood clotting is poor - As immature white blood cells crowd out blood platelets, which are crucial for blood clotting, the patient may bruise or bleed easily and heal slowly - he may also develop petechiae (a small red to purple spot on the body, caused by a minor hemorrhage).


• Affected immune system - The patient's white blood cells, which are crucial for fighting off infection, may be suppressed or not working properly. The patient may experience frequent infections, or his immune system may attack other good body cells.


• Anemia - As the shortage of good red blood cells grows the patient may suffer from anemia - this may lead to difficult or labored respiration (dyspnea) and pallor (skin has a pale color caused by illness).


• Other symptoms - Patients may also experience nausea, fever, chills, night sweats, flu-like symptoms, and tiredness. If the liver or spleen becomes enlarged the patient may feel full and will eat less, resulting in weight loss. Headache is more common among patients whose cancerous cells have invaded the CNS (central nervous system).


• Precaution - As all these symptoms could be due to other illnesses. A diagnosis of leukemia can only be confirmed after medical tests are carried out.

What causes leukemia?

Experts say that different leukemias have different causes. The following are either known causes, or strongly suspected causes:

• Artificial ionizing radiation
• Viruses - HTLV-1 (human T-lymphotropic virus) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
• Benzene and some petrochemicals
• Alkylating chemotherapy agents used in previous cancers
• Maternal fetal transmission (rare)
• Hair dyes
• Genetic predisposition - some studies researching family history and looking at twins have indicated that some people have a higher risk of developing leukemia because of a single gene or multiple genes.
• Down syndrome - people with Down syndrome have a significantly higher risk of developing leukemia, compared to people who do not have Down syndrome. Experts say that because of this, people with certain chromosomal abnormalities may have a higher risk.
• Electromagnetic energy - studies indicate there is not enough evidence to show that ELF magnetic (not electric) fields that exist currently might cause leukemia. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) says that studies which indicate there is a risk tend to be biased and unreliable.

The link to this site: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php

So get this - you can get leukemia from a genetic disposition - that is something really new to me... I never thought that genes could play a role in having or not having leukemia... It opened my eyes, has it opened yours? Also, some of the other ways one could get leukemia are astonishing - I never would have thought that hair dyes could play a part in someone having leukemia...