Ride to create awareness on blood stem cell donation to save lives of those people who are suffering from life threatening blood related diseases.
50 participants from across Chennai took part in the drive to support the cause.
Chennai, Saturday 13th 2014:
A cycling event was organized in Chennai on Saturday 13th December 2014 , to create awareness on blood stem cell donation, by Datri blood stem cell donors registry (DATRI), in association with Pro-bikers.
The event was flagged off at 5:30 am from Pro-Bikers at Kandanchavadi (OMR.) Fifty people from different walks of life and across all age groups, enthusiastically participated braving heavy downpour and cycled from pro-bikers to Mahabalipuram , covering a distance of approximately 44 Kms. This is the first ever event of this kind to build awareness that blood cancer is curable through a blood stem cell transplant.
‘DATRI’ is a non-profit organisation set up to save lives of those suffering from life threatening blood disorders like blood cancer and other fatal blood disorders. DATRI is working towards creating a wide and diverse database of potential donors that can be accessed by any patient, living anywhere in the world, in need of a stem cell transplant.
There is very low awareness about Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC) and there are very few registered donors in India hence the probability of finding a donor is very low. With the odds of finding a match outside the family being 1 in 20,000 to 1 in a million. Datri has got requests from 975 patients who are looking for a match this year of which only 35 patients found a match. The need for a large donor base in India is critical , to help these patients find a match.
DATRI now has successfully created the largest Indian database of 70000 functional donor registry from diverse ethnic background and has facilitated 78 transplants.
One of the participants shared, “The truth lies in the fact that blood cancer is never a one-sided story; individuals touched by the disease and the people who support them share the experience together and empower each other in profound ways.”
About DATRI: Chennai-based, DATRI is a non – governmental organisation set up in the year 2009, with an aim to save lives of those people of Indian origin who are suffering from life threatening diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, etc. Anywhere across the globe. It was co-founded by Raghu Rajagopal, Dr Nezih Cereb and Dr Soo Young Yang. DATRI has successfully created the largest and credible database of 70000 functional donor registry from diverse ethnic background. The organisation has successfully completed 78 transplants, across 22 transplant centers. Of these, 6 have been for patients being treated overseas.