The U.S.-developed system involves a simple test to find matching donors for marrow transplants by taking cheek-cell samples, avoiding the need to extract blood samples. It will be implemented to enlarge the Hadassah Hospital bank of potential bone marrow donors in Ein Karem, Jerusalem.
The countrywide campaign to find potential bone marrow donors, and thus expand the national bank of donor information, begins tomorrow, Monday, at the Zichron Menachem Day Center, above Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem.
The unprecedented national campaign beginning this week is focusing on saving the lives of two young women: Daphna, a mother of three in her early thirties, and Maya, a 23-year-old student from Jerusalem. Both of them are eagerly waiting a matching donor to save their young lives.
Until now, such testing required a blood sample, possibly scaring off many potential donor - but it has now become more donor-friendly. The quick test, with a 100% success rate, is neither invasive nor painful. During the coming month, thousands of potential donors are expected to be tested - at a cost of a total of ten million shekels. Each test costs $66, though potential donors are not asked to pay.
Professor Reuven Or, a senior physician in the department of bone marrow transplants and the medical director of the bone marrow donor registry and the Hadassah umbilical cord blood bank, is the first doctor in Israel to adopt the new testing system.
The test is performed by having the potential donor take a saliva sample by passing a cotton swab inside the cheek. The cotton swab is then sent to a U.S. laboratory for checking, and the results are returned on-line to Hadassah Hospital. There they are saved in national and international public registries to help save lives in the future.
The campaign is being held in cooperation with the American organization, Gift of Life, and Zichron Menachem, the pioneer Israeli organization supporting pediatric cancer patients and their families.
On Monday evening, potential donors can be tested in Tel Aviv at the Heichal HaTarbut, and on Tuesday, at the Daniel Hotel in Herzliya Pituach from 9 am to 7 pm. A testing site is likely to be opened in Haifa next week as well.
"This campaign is focused on saving the lives of Daphna and Maya," Prof. Or says, "who need bone marrow donors immediately. We know that these two women are of Bukharian, Hungarian and Moroccan descent. The simple saliva test allows us to reach all those coming from these origins."
"The volunteer donor registry is one of the most amazing projects that can unite people, especially in the western world," adds Prof. Or. "It has special importance among all minorities because of their genetic similarity."
Chaim Ehrental, chairperson and founder of Zichron Menachem, says, "We are convinced that by using this modern testing technique we can reach thousands of donors by focusing on the segments of populations that are genetically similar to those who need the transplant, while saving great sums of money. A large financial investment for campaigns held until now was needed for hiring professional staff, ambulances, etc. to test potential donors. Now all of the money can be spent on the tests alone."
The countrywide campaign to find potential bone marrow donors, and thus expand the national bank of donor information, begins tomorrow, Monday, at the Zichron Menachem Day Center, above Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem.
The unprecedented national campaign beginning this week is focusing on saving the lives of two young women: Daphna, a mother of three in her early thirties, and Maya, a 23-year-old student from Jerusalem. Both of them are eagerly waiting a matching donor to save their young lives.
Until now, such testing required a blood sample, possibly scaring off many potential donor - but it has now become more donor-friendly. The quick test, with a 100% success rate, is neither invasive nor painful. During the coming month, thousands of potential donors are expected to be tested - at a cost of a total of ten million shekels. Each test costs $66, though potential donors are not asked to pay.
Professor Reuven Or, a senior physician in the department of bone marrow transplants and the medical director of the bone marrow donor registry and the Hadassah umbilical cord blood bank, is the first doctor in Israel to adopt the new testing system.
The test is performed by having the potential donor take a saliva sample by passing a cotton swab inside the cheek. The cotton swab is then sent to a U.S. laboratory for checking, and the results are returned on-line to Hadassah Hospital. There they are saved in national and international public registries to help save lives in the future.
The campaign is being held in cooperation with the American organization, Gift of Life, and Zichron Menachem, the pioneer Israeli organization supporting pediatric cancer patients and their families.
On Monday evening, potential donors can be tested in Tel Aviv at the Heichal HaTarbut, and on Tuesday, at the Daniel Hotel in Herzliya Pituach from 9 am to 7 pm. A testing site is likely to be opened in Haifa next week as well.
"This campaign is focused on saving the lives of Daphna and Maya," Prof. Or says, "who need bone marrow donors immediately. We know that these two women are of Bukharian, Hungarian and Moroccan descent. The simple saliva test allows us to reach all those coming from these origins."
"The volunteer donor registry is one of the most amazing projects that can unite people, especially in the western world," adds Prof. Or. "It has special importance among all minorities because of their genetic similarity."
Chaim Ehrental, chairperson and founder of Zichron Menachem, says, "We are convinced that by using this modern testing technique we can reach thousands of donors by focusing on the segments of populations that are genetically similar to those who need the transplant, while saving great sums of money. A large financial investment for campaigns held until now was needed for hiring professional staff, ambulances, etc. to test potential donors. Now all of the money can be spent on the tests alone."