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Sun Life Financial is the latest sponsor to get behind establishing Canada’s first national public donor cord blood bank. Canada is the only country in the G7 without a national bank, but Canadian Blood Services hopes to change that before the end of the year.
Earlier this week, Sun Life announced their donation to Canadian Blood Services to support their “For All Canadians” fundraising campaign. A team of volunteers led by the CEO of Canadian Blood Services will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa next week to continue working towards reaching its goal of $12.5 million. The Sun Life donation is welcomed support.
The number of Canadians waiting for potentially life-changing stem cell transplants derived from umbilical cord blood or bone marrow continues to grow year over year. Canadian Blood Services relies on international registries to obtain samples for transplant, but this process can prove especially difficult for Canada’s ethnically diverse population. Dr. David Allan, Clinical Hematologist with Canadian Blood Services, is concerned that Canada’s First Nations communities are underrepresented in cord blood stem cell registries.
Many families choose to bank their own baby’s cord blood with a family cord blood program, which ensures they have access to the sample if ever their child is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. In many hospitals donation to research is also a possibility. Dr. Allan says it is very important for all Canadians to know their options.
“There is a pressing need for these patients to have better access to stem cell treatments. The generosity shown by Sun Life Financial will help ensure the creation of the national public umbilical cord blood bank and thereby increase the patient’s chances of finding their match.”
Canadian Blood Services hopes to reach its fundraising goal before the end of the summer, and officially open the public cord blood bank by the end of 2013.