Special clinic calls for stem cell registration with typing campaign
Daniel Marcinkowski, a nurse at Sportklinik Hellersen, has given another person the chance to live three times over. This was made possible by his willingness to donate bone marrow. The Sportklinik Hellersen employee has already donated stem cells a total of three times.
Daniel Marcinkowski had already registered with the Stefan-Mosch-Stiftung during his training. "I can still remember the exact moment when I first got the call that I was a potential donor. I was at vocational school at the time and my cell phone rang in the middle of class. When I saw the area code, I somehow knew immediately," reports the nurse. After that, everything happened very quickly.
"I was a bit overwhelmed at first and couldn't process the information so quickly. After the phone call, everything started immediately. I informed my teacher and was released from teaching so that I could go straight to the clinic for further examinations," says Daniel Marcinkowski. After registration, potential donors are initially only recorded in the database. Only when the database identifies a match are further examinations carried out. These preliminary examinations include checking the anatomy of the pelvis. This is crucial in determining whether the donation can actually be carried out and whether stem cells can be removed from the iliac crest. In addition, preliminary discussions about the procedure are held and blood samples are taken. In the end, Daniel Marcinkowski was given the go-ahead. The bone marrow donation was planned for the very next day.
"You often imagine it to be worse than it actually is," he says looking back. He was fit again after just a short time. When he was later asked again by the foundation to donate bone marrow, he didn't hesitate for a second. "I was surprised, because at first you think, now I've donated and that's it. But sometimes it happens that it is necessary to donate again for the same person," explains Daniel Marcinkowski. It is already difficult for a person to find a suitable donor. If several donations are necessary, as in this case, the first match is contacted again first.
It was only between the second and third donation that Daniel Marcinkowski learned that the person for whom he was donating bone marrow was a 45-year-old family man from England, near Manchester. "Both the donor and the recipient remain anonymous. You only find out about the recipient if they agree. And vice versa, of course," explains the nurse. However, his focus was only on helping.
"We are all on the same highway of life. I think it's important to stop and look at what's happening to other people. You shouldn't lose sight of what's going on around you. For people who may not have it so easy at the moment and give them a little more time to live by donating stem cells or blood. I think that's the aspect that really touched me," says Daniel Marcinkowski. His goal today is to raise awareness and encourage other people to register as well.
Sportklinik Hellersen calls for typing campaign
The Sportklinik Hellersen would also like to support this and raise awareness. Together with the Stefan-Mosch-Stiftung, the specialist clinic is therefore organizing an online typing campaign from 16 to 31 March.
What does this mean? Anyone interested can find out more about stem cell donation and the work of the foundation on the Sportklinik Hellersen website. They can also find out how they can be typed quickly and easily from home.
During typing, the genetic tissue characteristics are determined ("typed") from a blood or saliva sample. For many patients, a stem cell transplant from a donor is the only chance of survival. However, in order to donate, certain genetic characteristics must match a person suffering from leukemia. This is checked following typing. However, the large number of genetic combinations makes the search for suitable lifesavers considerably more difficult. Even today, no genetic twin is found for one in ten people worldwide.
The aim of the joint campaign is to recruit as many new potential stem cell donors as possible. Every healthy person can register as a potential stem cell donor and perhaps one day become a lifesaver themselves - just like Daniel Marcinkowski.
Press contact
Sarah Burghaus
Head of Marketing, PR & Customer Service, Press Officer
sarah.burghaus@hellersen.de
Marketing & PR
marketing@hellersen.de
