HHS cancer patient Peter Clarke (left) is launching a Your Match Matters campaign to encourage people ages 17 to 35 from diverse backgrounds to become stem cell donors. The avid cyclist is pictured here with his son Hayden.
After being diagnosed with a rare type of bone marrow cancer two years ago, Dundas resident Peter Clarke was inspired to create Your Match Matters, a non-profit organization that encourages people ages 17 to 35 from diverse backgrounds to join the Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry. Donors in that age range give patients undergoing a stem cell transplant the best chance of long-term survival, and many people worldwide have difficulty finding a match due to a lack of diversity in stem cell registries.
“Canada has a great opportunity to expand the number of donors from diverse backgrounds.” — Dr. Tobias Berg, HHS hematologist
Stem cell donations can treat over 80 diseases and disorders, including leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers. The Your Match Matters website provides a link to Canada’s stem cell registry, where volunteer donors are matched with patients nationally and around the world who need a transplant.
Dr. Tobias Berg, HHS hematologist
“It’s a common belief that the best match always comes from a close blood relative, such as a sibling, but most patients don’t have matched family donors,” says Dr. Tobias Berg, a hematologist at Hamilton Health Sciences’ Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre (JHCC).
“A young matched unrelated donor can in some instances be an even better choice than an older related donor, so it’s extremely important to recruit young donors from diverse backgrounds.”
Leading centre
The JHCC is one of just three centres in the province to provide all forms of stem cell transplants to adult cancer patients. In 2020, the hematology service expanded with the opening of the Ron and Nancy Clark Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies Unit for patients needing treatment for blood cancers.
Peter Clarke, HHS patient and stem cell donation advocate
Though Clarke, 59, will eventually need a transplant, he wasn’t motivated to launch Your Match Matters because of a personal search for a donor. “Four potential matches have already been found for me,” says the retired environmental consultant. Instead, he hopes to help unmatched patients in Canada and around the world find a donor.
Right now in Canada, nearly 1,000 people need a stem cell transplant.
“I was hearing stories of families frantically looking for matches for their family members,” says Clarke. “I couldn’t imagine the panic and helplessness they felt, and wanted to help change the odds.”
Your Match Matters launch party
Your Match Matters officially launches on April 19 at 7 p.m. with an in-person event at Millworks Creative in Dundas. The evening includes guest speakers and a video featuring Clarke’s story, as well as a video presentation by Berg. The public is encouraged to attend to learn more about becoming a donor, and Clarke is especially interested in attracting a 17-to-35-year-old crowd from diverse backgrounds.
Registering to donate is easy and painless
Clarke also plans to attend community events to promote stem cell donations to that target age group. An avid cyclist, he tested the promotional waters last fall with an information table at a gravel bike race in Haliburton, where many participants were in the target age range. Sixteen riders joined the registry that day, while visiting Clarke’s information table.
Avid cyclists Peter Clarke and his son Hayden plan to promote stem cell donation at in-person events.
“It wasn’t a large number, but it’s 16 more donors than previously existed on the registry,” says Clarke. “The more people that join, the better chance a person needing a stem cell transplant has of finding a match.”
The Canadian registry is part of an international network of registries including more than 80 participating countries, with over 40 million donors from around the world.
Once a person registers to become a donor through the Canadian registry’s website, they’ll receive a free swab kit delivered to their address in one to three weeks.
The donor collects a sample by gently swabbing the insides of their cheeks, and mailing the sample to the registry free of charge. It can take months or years to find a match, so donors are asked to keep their health and contact information up to date.
Building a diverse donor base
The Canadian registry is part of an international network of registries including more than 80 participating countries, with over 40 million donors from around the world. It coordinates searches in Canada and with other international registries to help patients get the stem cells they need. Yet in spite of its size and scope, a match for a patient in Canada can only be found about 50 per cent of the time. Right now in Canada, nearly 1,000 people need a stem cell transplant.
“Canada has a great opportunity to expand the number of donors from diverse backgrounds,” says Berg. “Few countries in the world have as much genetic diversity as Canada, with people moving here from different cultural and regional backgrounds worldwide.”
A second cancer diagnosis
Clarke was diagnosed with two separate cancers within a few months of each other. The first diagnosis, in December 2021, was for kidney cancer.
“On January 25, 2022, most of my left kidney was removed,” says Clarke, who four months later was diagnosed with myelofibrosis – a second, separate cancer. Clarke was on his way to the Toronto airport for a cycling holiday on the Spanish island of Mallorca when he received a phone call with test results confirming the myelofibrosis diagnosis. “It was a visceral earthquake in my life,” says Clarke. “I was shaking. I couldn’t hold onto my suitcase or my keys.”
Clarke continued with his trip despite being completely rocked by the news, and upon returning, he met with Berg, his hematologist, for the first time and learned that a stem cell transplant could offer a potential cure.
For many diseases where a stem cell transplant is recommended, there’s a 50 to 60 percent of being cured, says Berg, adding that with some diseases, it’s as high as 80 to 90 percent.
Though four good matches were identified for Clarke, he won’t move forward with the transplant until his health begins to decline.
“For this condition, the need for a transplant depends on the progression of the disease and ability of the bone marrow to generate enough blood cells,” says Berg.
Transplants involve several days of chemotherapy leading up to the procedure, followed by months of recovery. “Right now I feel fine,” says Clarke, who is heading back to Mallorca later this month for another cycling trip. “I’m taking life one day at a time until I get to the point where I need the transplant. And I’m using this stretch of good health to launch Your Match Matters, and recruit new donors.”
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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