Through stem cell donations, people with blood cancers such as leukemia have a real chance of being cured. In order to further increase this chance, soldiers now have the opportunity to voluntarily register as stem cell donors at blood donation campaigns in the barracks thanks to a cooperation between the Austrian Armed Forces and the Red Cross.
This option is available online around the clock at www.stammzelle.at is available. On the occasion of “World Stem Cell Donation Day” on September 16, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner, Red Cross President Gerald Schöpfer and the representative of the “Lions Club International” Past Governor Council Chairwoman Eva-Maria Franke presented the registration option for recruits to donate stem cells at a press conference. At the press conference, the father of a son who received stem cells also reported on his experiences. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner: “Our recruits are already donating blood during their basic military service. We are now also motivating them to register as voluntary stem cell donors, giving patients a chance of a cure. I am delighted that our soldiers can make an important contribution to our society in this way.”
“Our recruits are already donating blood during their basic military service. We are now also motivating them to register as voluntary stem cell donors.
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Verteidigungsministerin Klaudia Tanner
The data on the recruits’ tissue characteristics is entered into an international database following a simple cheek swab. This increases the chances of people with malignant blood diseases being cured many times over. 90 percent of patients find a suitable donor. The search takes an average of 24 days. In Austria, 118,658 stem cell donors are registered in the national register. This also gave rise to the idea of the Austrian Armed Forces (-> here you can find the latest news from the armed forces), as the armed forces, with its conscripts and younger professional soldiers, have a large number of people in the target group.
Red Cross President Gerald Schöpfer: “Every day, three people in Austria are diagnosed with blood cancer, and children are often affected. In the past, leukemia was often a death sentence, but today people with malignant blood diseases have a real chance of being cured thanks to stem cell donations. In 2018, the Austrian Red Cross started to set up and maintain its own register of potential donors. This year, we are celebrating its fifth anniversary and have now registered 60,000 potential donors and collected the 100th actual donation. Thank you to everyone who is helping to save lives!” https://militaeraktuell.at/blackned-zeigt-auf-dsei-neue-kommunikationsloesung/ “Since 2013, the Austrian Lions have been involved in the field of stem cell donation and have endeavored to increase the number of stem cell donors by holding registration campaigns. This is how the idea with the Austrian Armed Forces came about. The younger the donors are, the faster healthy and mature blood cells develop from the stem cells. In addition, incompatibilities during transplants are much rarer, as there are no previous pregnancies among the recruits. Over the past ten years, the Austrian Lions Clubs have raised more than 300,000 euros to finance typing and will continue to support this campaign in the future,” says Past Governor Eva-Maria Franke.
