Each year, approximately 18,000 people, ages 0-74, in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses where a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is the best option for a cure. Unfortunately, many patients lose their lives because no matching donor is found.

There are currently over 9 million volunteer donors on the U.S. Be The Match stem cell registry, however the overwhelming majority of those registered are white. The chances of finding a matching donor within the existing registries are 79% for Caucasian patients, compared to only 29% for African Americans.

Understanding that ethnicity is key to matching donors to patients, the Marrow Mates EFDS Program revolutionizes the donor recruitment process by targeting an individual patient’s own DNA relatives for virtual recruitment drives. These relatives are identified by enrolling the searching patient in commercially available genetic genealogy platforms such as 23andMe, Ancestry.com and My Heritage.

Marrow Mates provides EFDS services COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE to all patients, making the program fully accessible regardless of a patient’s income level. Funding for DNA kits and other program costs originates 100% from private donations. Your donation goes directly to helping Marrow Mates bring our EFDS programs to more patients in need!

Black History Month

Expand ethnicity on the global stem cell registries!

Team Members