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A team of volunteers spearheaded by the CEO of Canadian Blood Services will begin a challenging climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa on August 6. The team is raising money through its climb to help fund Canada’s first national public cord blood bank.
The African climb is one of the core events of the ‘For All Canadians’ fundraising campaign, which was first launched by Canadian Blood Services earlier this year in January. The goal of the campaign is to raise at least $12.5 million to provide the necessary funds not provided by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments.
Dr. Graham Sher is CEO of Canadian Blood Services, and says the money raised by the climb will aid the 1,000 Canadians in need of cord blood stem cell transplants. Dr. Sher notes that Canada’s multi-ethnic population would potentially benefit from increased cord blood banking, as visible minorities are significantly underrepresented in the Canadian Blood Services’ OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network.
“We may be climbing Africa’s highest peak, but the challenges we’ll encounter are nothing compared to what patients face daily when they are waiting for stem cell transplants to fight life threatening conditions like leukemia or lymphoma.”
Canadian Blood Services has risen over $275,000 as part of the For All Canadians fundraising campaign to date. Dr. Sher hopes the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, which is scheduled to last until August 16, will take the organization a large step closer to fulfilling its goal.