Klinikum Stuttgart: Thank you day for stem cell donors

Thank you to all stem cell donors! Every year on the third Saturday in September, celebrations are held in more than 50 countries around the world. By donating their stem cells, people try to help cancer patients to continue living. For two years now, the Stuttgart Clinic has had an entire ward for these patients.

Special station with air filters at the hospital

Unlike before, cancer patients are now allowed to leave their rooms during the transplant phase. While the immune system is shut down, the entire ward is isolated. The air is continuously filtered so that foreign pathogens have no chance. There are even lounges here.

Thomas Knauer had acute leukemia, also known as blood cancer, which kept coming back. He had actually already given up on life, but then a suitable donor appeared. Five years ago he came to the Stuttgart Clinic for treatment.

Donations can save lives

He recovered. All thanks to a suitable donor. And cancer patients depend on people like that who are willing to donate. Karin Däschler and Jakob Allner are stem cell donors and have both donated. Jakob Allner had registered. Then one day he got a call saying he was needed.

Young stem cells better suited

The probability of being considered as a donor is one percent. It’s different if you’re a family member who donates – like Karin Däschler. Her own sister received her bone marrow, but she’s been registered since she was 18.

But if you’re over 60, you’re no longer eligible to be a donor. According to the German Bone Marrow Donor Registry, more than 135,000 people in Germany have died this year. That’s why new young donors are urgently needed.