Krone honours stem cell donors

Spelle/Werlte, 15th March 2018: 621 Krone employees signed up as potential stem cell donors during the blood typing campaigns in Werlte (2007) and Spelle (2014). No fewer than 23 Krone employees have since donated stem cells, most having registered during the two company campaigns, some as a result of other public recruitment drives. Petra Ennenbach from DKMS gemeinnützige GmbH and Bernard Krone thanked the donors. Petra Ennenbach stressed that this was an exceptionally high and commendable response rate: “There are 23 people in the Krone Group who have actually donated stem cells for their ‘genetic twin’. That is absolutely magnificent, and I am very grateful for this selfless act on behalf of DKMS and to the benefit of our patients.” Bernard Krone, Managing Partner of the Krone Group, expressed his own thanks to the donors as well as to members of the Krone works council: “The initiative for the blood typing campaigns came from our works councillors. The management were, of course, very happy to lend their support, and the response from staff at both of our sites was excellent. I would therefore like to thank all Krone employees who have already registered. Because who knows whether somebody out there might not need their help very soon?”

How do I become a stem cell donor?
Becoming a stem cell donor is a straightforward process. Simply request a DKMS registration kit online. Within a short time, you will receive by post a set of cotton swabs together with instructions and all the necessary information. Take a buccal swab (i.e. on the inside of your cheek) with the cotton buds supplied. The cotton buds are then sent back together with the signed documents to DKMS. The tissue characteristics will then be determined by DKMS laboratory staff. A profile will be created to which a unique donor number is assigned. This will be communicated to the new potential stem cell donor. In any subsequent worldwide blood cancer patient searches, it can then be determined if that donor is a match for a blood cancer patient in need of a stem cell transplant. For further information, visit www.dkms.de

About DKMS
DKMS is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the fight against blood cancer. It was founded 26 years ago as the Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei (German Stem Cell Donor Register) by Dr Peter Harf whose wife died of leukaemia. Today, DKMS is active in the USA, Poland, Spain and the UK, as well as in Germany where it all began. Over the years, 7.8 million life donors have been registered, making DKMS a major global player in the fight against blood cancer. Over 600 DKMS employees from more than 20 different countries are working around the clock to give every blood cancer patient a second chance in life.