Leukaemia patients are also in need of donors in Luxembourg. The total number of patients is currently unknown due to anonymity, but one of them, Rizo Agovic, is at the heart of a new appeal on social media. His family are hoping to encourage new donors to register.
The campaign is designed to show how simple it is to register. Enesa Agovic, Rizo's sister, explained that 10 volunteer nurses would be available from 9am to 1pm at Schifflange municipality on 8 February. The nurses will be answering questions, helping donors to register and taking blood samples on the spot.
The blood samples will then be sent to the Stefan Morsch lab in Germany to be added to the database. Once in the database, it is possible to match samples with patients worldwide.
Enesa went on to underline the importance of donating, saying even if new donors were not matches for her brother, they would still be able to save lives elsewhere.
12,000 donors are registered in the Grand Duchy, with 35 million registered across the world. But it is not always simple to find the correct match.
One in a million people is compatible for stem cell donation. David Lam, who received a stem cell transplant on 14 September 2018, said his donor match was found in the USA, and he felt a special link had been formed with the person whose donation effectively saved his life.
Video in Luxembourgish
