ArmenPress
April 5 2004

7,950 DONORS REGISTERED AT ARMENIAN BONE MARROW REGISTER

GORIS, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Bone Marrow Register
representatives are back from Lebanon where they have registered 450
donors. According to Executive Director of the register Sevak
Avagian, Catholicos Aram I was the first donor of bone marrow.
Currently there are 7,950 donors registered at the Armenian Bone
Marrow Register. This number is expected to considerably increase in
the course of this year. The first action is expected to be held in
Russia.
Two transplantation operations were performed , one of which was
recently in Poland.
Armenians have a unique genetic structure of bone marrow.
Therefore, probability of finding matches for transplantation is
higher among Armenians. Transplantation is the last hope for survival
for people with blood diseases, most of who are children. The
probability of survival by transplantation is 40-50 per cent among
adults and 60-70 per cent among children.
The Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Charitable Trust was
founded in July 1998 in Armenia as a non-profit, non-sectarian,
non-governmental and independent organization. Its mission is to save
precious Armenian lives by creating a bone marrow donor registry
which, with the volunteer recruitment of Armenian donors worldwide,
will increase the pool of existing international donors and thus give
a chance of survival to patients with Leukemia or other blood related
diseases. Although Armenians are considered Caucasian, their unique
genetic make up makes it very hard for them to find matches for
transplantation.
The Trust’s honorary chairperson is the First Lady of the Republic
of Armenia, Dr. Bella Kocharian and the chairperson is Dr. Frieda
Jordan, a biochemist whose expertise is the establishment of bone
marrow registries.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress