Photo courtesy of Be The Match
Be The Match donor
Be The Match needs more volunteers of color, like Lauren, to ensure every patient in need finds a cell therapy donor.
Cancer doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take a break during a pandemic. So despite global lockdowns, North Loop-based Be The Match hasn’t slowed down in the face of dramatic changes to daily life this past year. Since mid-March, the nonprofit has safely matched thousands of patients with life-saving bone marrow transplants. But the team is still fighting to give many more patients a chance, especially in communities of color.
Be The Match is the world’s largest registry of bone marrow and other cell therapy donors, which provide a potential cure to patients facing diseases like leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and lymphoma. Volunteer donors, mostly between ages 18 and 44 (younger people have a higher chance of matching with a patient), join the registry by swabbing their cheeks to file a tissue sample. If a patient matching their sample needs a donation, the volunteer may be asked to fly to the patient’s hospital and give marrow. It’s fast-paced, harmless for the donor, and often life-changing for the recipient.
Currently, not every patient has an equal chance of finding that perfect-match donor—something Be The Match, led by new CEO Amy Ronneberg, is working to change. “Several have said it’s one of the largest medical disparities that exist today,” she says. “If you’re a white patient in the U.S., you have a 77 percent chance of receiving a transplant. And that goes all the way to the very far end, where a Black and African American patient only has a 23 percent chance.” Other BIPOC communities have similarly small match chances.
Ronneberg, a cancer survivor herself, is passionate about leveling out the playing field. Under her leadership, Be The Match has focused on increasing outreach and education in predominantly Black, Asian, and Latinx neighborhoods across the country and has increased registry recruitment at historically Black colleges. “Everybody has the right to live, regardless of your background or your race,” Ronneberg says.
The pandemic has stalled one of Be The Match’s typically successful recruitment plans: tabling during large college events and encouraging 20-somethings to join the registry. So—like nearly everything else—their efforts went digital. An online partnership with Good Morning America anchor (and BTM advocate) Robin Roberts and Juwan, a patient of color who couldn’t find a match, inspired 50,000 new donors to join the registry. Be The Match’s social media pages are filled with patient and donor success stories, and the organization’s first-ever virtual gala, held this fall, raised more than $565,000.
Ronneberg and her team hope the increased education and awareness bring vital attention to the registry’s current needs—and inspire others of all backgrounds and ethnicities to make a difference. “This is a way that you can help someone,” she says. “In a time that’s really challenging, this is a great opportunity for people to sign up and give someone hope and do something really meaningful.”
To learn more about Be The Match and the registry process, visit bethematch.org.
