University of Toronto (Tri-Campus) Annual Stem Cell Challenge

Date:   Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Time:   10:00am - 6:00pm
Location: University of Toronto (tri-campus)

UTSC @ Meeting Place
UTSG @Stone Lobby, Main Floor (Medical Science Building)
UTM @ Student Centre

If you cannot make it to our locations on this day, please visit http://www.onematch.com for more information.

Visit us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=298322605066

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED on February 10th:
Timeslots are flexible, please contact:

UTSC: Shweta @ BioSA – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
UTM: Prateek @ SA4L - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
UTSG: Darryl @ SC4L – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

For general inquiries, contact Fancy @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Description:
On February 10th, YOU can be the ONE MATCH that saves a life.

There is a shortage of minority registrants in the Canadian Bone Marrow database. OneMatch and University of Toronto student groups need your help to change that!

Our goal is to register 1500 students across 3 campuses on Feb. 10th, not a difficult task!

What you need to know:

--> Only 30% of patients in need of a stem cell transplant can find a matched donor in their families,
70% need to depend on the generosity of unrelated donors to save their lives.

--> Caucasian patients have about 80% success rate of finding an unrelated matched donor,
while Chinese patients have less than a 10% chance because the donor pool for Chinese is so small. This figure is even smaller for other minority groups (see chart).

--> A person’s best chance of finding a donor is within his/her own ethnic group.

--> OneMatch provides patients a single point of access to more than 13 million donors and more than 350,000 cord blood units on the global donor listing.

--> Stem cells from younger donors offer better long-term survival rates for transplant patients.

-->ALL WE NEED FROM YOU IS THE STEM CELLS INSIDE YOUR MOUTH TO SEE IF YOU ARE A MATCH TO A PATIENT IN NEED.