There are thousands of people with blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other life-threatening diseases that depend on a bone marrow or cord blood transplant to save their lives.
However, finding the right Genetic type used to match donors and patients is much more complex than simply matching blood type, for example. Matching is based on genetic markers called human leukocyte antigen (HLA).
Sometimes, when there is a shortage of donors in the registry of a certain type, Be The Match will make a call for extra donors that are most likely to carry that type.
In this case, they requested that Black donors come forward because people who identify as Black or African American have the lowest odds of finding a match: 23% vs 77% for white patients.
Despite the eminent logic and common sense of such a request, it didn’t go down well in the comments.