World Blood Cancer Day 2021

World Blood Cancer Day is marked every year on May 28, as an alarm signal to raise awareness of the importance of these types of cancer, but also to encourage people to register in the National Registry of Voluntary Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors.

Since the beginning of the year, only 2,913 people have registered in the National Registry of Voluntary Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors. For patients with blood cancer, transplantation is the only therapeutic solution. This year, 21 patients were transplanted, but there are 37 patients diagnosed with blood cancer who do not have a matching blood donor and who hope every day that a newly registered volunteer donor will be their chance at life.

On this occasion, the National Registry of Voluntary Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors in partnership with the Federation of Cancer Patients’ Associations in Romania (FABC) and the Romanian Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation are sounding the alarm. In 2021, no donor from the Registry was compatible with a blood cancer patient in need of a transplant. The reason? The too small number of people registered on the list of potential hematopoietic stem cell donors. Thus, we organized an online press conference in which we talked about blood cancers – types, causes, symptoms, treatment, challenges in the time of COVID, the need for hematopoietic stem cell donors, how to become a donor with our guests Cezar Irimia, FABC president, prof. dr. Alina Tănase – president of the Romanian Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation, prof. dr. Anca Coliță – manager of the Fundeni Clinical Institute Bucharest, prof. dr. Anca Lupu – president of the Romanian Society of Hematology.

Immediately after the press conference, Gabriel, a former patient, held a quartet concert with his mother and siblings, in honor of the doctors and nurses who saved his life in the Hematology Department of Colțea Hospital.

Last year, under the restrictive conditions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, five Romanians donated hematopoietic stem cells for patients with blood cancer. Georgian Trocea is one of them.

Cătălin Psenișnic is the first child transplanted in Romania with hematopoietic stem cells donated by an unrelated donor.