Blood StemCell Drive
10 September 2016

An event for the children in need of Blood Stem Cell.
Sponsors : Aneesh & Archana (Doha, Qatar)

A camp for awareness of Blood Stem Cell donation & registration of potential donors was organized in the venue of wedding reception of Aneesh & Archana from Qatar. Those invited for the reception at at JDT Auditorium could come to the counter arranged at the entrance of venue and fill up the consent form for donating Blood stem cell. The samples were taken at the venue itself and personal information was filled. This was organized in association with an NGO based in Chennai named Datri Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry, who is building a database of the people who are ready to donate Blood Stem Cells.

DATRI is a not-for-profit organization that was founded in 2009 with a mission to save lives of those suffering from life threatening blood disorders like Blood Cancer, Thalassemia, Aplastic Anemia etc. A blood stem cell transplant can save the lives of such patients. With very few registered donors available in India, the possibility of finding a match for an Indian anywhere in the world is very bleak. Since there is only 25% chance of finding a match from within the family, many of them have to depend on unrelated donors from registries like Datri.

So Arm of Joy set up a platform at the venue of a wedding reception to spread this message. We hope that this will create more awareness among the people and expect to promote the thought that such weddings where people come in large numbers can be made a powerful occasion for such a meaningful activity. Datri representatives taking the cheek samples of Bride & Groom at the beginning of the wedding reception. The guests who came for the wedding reception visited the registration counter & with the help of volunteers provided cheek samples.