• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Report Police Misconduct
41 °f
Washington
39 ° Tue
35 ° Wed
37 ° Thu
40 ° Fri
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • HBCUs
  • Society
    • Politics
    • Health & Well-Being
    • National
    • Opinion
  • Race[ism]
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV & Film
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Tech
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • HBCUs
  • Society
    • Politics
    • Health & Well-Being
    • National
    • Opinion
  • Race[ism]
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV & Film
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Tech
No Result
View All Result
blackoute
No Result
View All Result
Home Health & Well-Being

Georgia mom’s search for life-saving transplant highlights need for black donors

May 16, 2020
in COVID-19, Health & Well-Being
2 min read
Georgia-transplant
217
SHARES
827
VIEWS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • SMS
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Copy Link

RelatedNews

Black-owned businesses fear federal relief may not be enough

$200,000 Awarded to ASU’s Forensic Science Department

Founder of Black-Owned Healthcare Company Celebrates 10 Years in Business

ATLANTA, GA – As Mother’s Day approaches, a 26-year-old Georgia mom, Briana Stephens, continues her search for a matching donor to help her receive a life-saving blood stem cell transplant.

At age 10, Briana was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a dangerous blood disorder that keeps her blood from clotting. The disease impacts her life drastically. She had to set aside her dream to be an early childhood teacher because her immune system was too compromised to be around small children. She experiences extreme fatigue; receives frequent blood transfusions and platelet checks; attends weekly doctor’s visits; and receives weekly plasma donations. A blood stem cell transplant from a perfectly matched donor is the only cure for Briana’s condition. But after more than a decade of searching, she still has not found a match. Despite it all, Stephens is determined to make a normal life for her 6-year-old son, Tabiaz, and become a spokesperson for others who are searching for a donor match.

Black and African-American patients, like Briana, have only a 23% chance of finding a blood stem cell donor, compared to a 77% chance for Caucasians. To make matters worse, of the 22 million people on the national Be The Match® donor registry, only 4% are African-American. To help Briana and other African-American patients in desperate need, more committed African-American donors are needed to join the Be The Match® registry. To find out more information about how to join the registry click here https://www.bethematchatl.org.

“I have a of lot days where I’m weak, this disorder makes you tired, makes you not want to eat sometimes, makes you want to sleep and lay in bed all day, like the bed is just pulling you in,” Briana recently said on Black Blood Heals, a Be The Match podcast. “But when it comes to my son, I just have to push myself most times to get up and do it for him because I am his mother and I want to make it happen for him. And I want him to see that I am doing everything that a mom can do regularly without anything being different for him, so he won’t feel like an outcast.” See full interview here https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-black-blood-heals-60811401.

Be The Match is a non-profit organization that maintains the National Marrow Donor Registry and provides potential cures through blood stem cell transplants for patients battling blood cancers and other blood disorders like sickle cell disease.

“While new social distancing guidelines have changed how we recruit donors, the need for Black donors to join the registry remains as critical as ever,” said Rod Gunn, Partnership Manager, Be The Match. “We don’t want patients like Briana to have to wait over ten years to find a donor. Our goal is to return these mothers and fathers to better health so they can focus on the things that are important to them, their children.”

Adults ages 18 to 44 years old can join the Be The Match Registry online by answering a simple questionnaire. A cheek swab kit will be mailed to their homes and can be returned in the postage-paid envelope. One in 430 registry members will go on to donate life-saving blood stem cells to a patient in need.

Tags: atlantacovid-19medicinewomen
Previous Post

Socially Distant Dating App for Black Singles Sheltered In Place

Next Post

Free COVID-19 Testing Site Opens at ASU

Related Posts

Black-owned business
HBCUs

Black-owned businesses fear federal relief may not be enough

August 24, 2020
658
HBCUs

$200,000 Awarded to ASU’s Forensic Science Department

August 14, 2020
133
Business

Founder of Black-Owned Healthcare Company Celebrates 10 Years in Business

August 5, 2020
115
Health & Well-Being

GirlTrek’s #BlackHistoryBootCamp Returns for Second Installment

August 2, 2020
129
Health & Well-Being

Black Woman Tech Founder Creates Privacy and Security Technology to Address HIPAA Non-Compliance

July 29, 2020
138
Health & Well-Being

African American Behavioral Scientist Continues Groundbreaking Work

July 29, 2020
115
Next Post
Ross-Covid

Free COVID-19 Testing Site Opens at ASU

COVID-19 & Black America

Amerhia Hogue
COVID-19

Government Employee Thankful for Essential Status

May 16, 2020
1k

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) pushed income tax filing deadlines to July 15, thus creating assurance and...

Read more
empty-cast-iron-pan

Serial Entrepreneur and Restaurateur Ebony Austin Talks About Crisis Management

May 16, 2020
931
playground

‘We need help’: Coronavirus ‘devastating’ black cities in outstate Michigan

May 6, 2020
815

Queen Bee Masks

May 21, 2020
875

In Memory Of George E. Curry

This website is dedicated to George E. Curry, the editor-in-chief of the groundbreaking Black magazine 'Emerge', as well as being known as the Dean of Black Press Columnists.

Get Blackoute In Your Inbox

Subscribe1

Report Police Misconduct

Use a new public and searchable database to report police misconduct to ensure no incident is covered up. BadCopz.com was created by Blackoute's parent company, EVOLVE Group.

Visit BadCopz.com

About Us

blackoute brings you all black everything, all day everyday from sources all over the world. In times where we are often forgotten, blackoute aims to do its part to make sure that doesn't happen.

  • About Blackoute
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact

an EVOLVE Group company

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • HBCUs
  • Society
    • Politics
    • Health & Well-Being
    • National
    • Opinion
  • Race[ism]
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Music
    • TV & Film
  • Lifestyle
    • Tech
    • Food
  • Contact

an EVOLVE Group company

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
We are currently in beta testing. Please let us know if you experience any errors.
Send this to a friend