John is a 53-year-old African Caribbean man living in the UK.  He was diagnosed with a rare type of lymphoma called Sezary syndrome in 2022.

To defeat this disease John needs a stem cell transplant. Sadly, his twin brother is not a suitable donor match, and like 75% of Black blood cancer patients, he does not currently have a viable match in the worldwide registry. 

You could be John's lifesaving hero without even knowing it! Ancestry and ethnicity play a crucial role in finding a match, so John's family is working with a nonprofit called Marrow Mates to reach out to genetic relatives to spread the word about his need for a stem cell donor.  

People of African, Haitian or Caribbean descent and mixed ethnicities are extremely underrepresented on the global registries, so if you or anyone in your family were to find themselves in John's situation, it would likely be difficult for them to find a donor too.  We need to increase the number of people of our ethnicity on the global registries to help save lives!

Please click the “Join a Registry” button above and sign up to join the global stem cell registry and see if you are John's match.  All it takes is to swab the inside of your cheek with a cotton swab. When you register, Marrow Mates will send you the swab kit.  That’s all it takes!

For more information about John, please visit the following links:

John's BBC Story: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4n4nex49xpo

John's story in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/04/cancer-patient-given-months-to-live-hopes-for-stem-cell-match

Marrow Mates: https://www.marrowmates.org/About-Us/Extended-Family-Donor-Search-Initiative