August 7, 2023 • 14 mins
Aired August 6, 2023: Are you ready to 'Be The Match'?! Thousands of people are diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, but your DNA could be their life saver! Lisa Foxx talks to Joy King, the Chief Advancement Officer of Be The Match ® , operated by the National Marrow Donor Program ® (NMDP), about the plea for more people ages 18-40 to join the donor registry, in hopes of being matched with someone in need.
For patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant may be their best or only hope for a cure. 70% of patients who need a transplant do not have a fully matched donor in their family. They depend on Be The Match® and their supporters to find a match to save their life. Sign up and find out more at: bethematch.org/
For patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant may be their best or only hope for a cure. 70% of patients who need a transplant do not have a fully matched donor in their family. They depend on Be The Match® and their supporters to find a match to save their life. Sign up and find out more at: bethematch.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, It's Lisa Fox. Thankyou for listening. This is the iHeart
So Cal Show. All right,So are you ready to be the Match?
Be Someone's match? A match thatcould save their life. For the
thousands of people diagnosed every year withlife threatening blood cancers like leukemia and the
foma, a cure does exist.Over the past thirty five years, an
organization called Be the Match, operatedby the National Marrow Donor Program. They've
(00:24):
managed the most diverse marrow registry inthe world. They're hoping you're gonna get
signed up for their registry because it'sall in hopes of making life saving matches.
Be the Match dot org as theirwebsite for all the info, but
we're also going to hear about itfrom their chief advancement officer, Joy King.
Hi, Joy, Hello, Lisa, Thank you for having me.
Of course, I just want tospread the word about this life saving process.
(00:46):
Be the Match is all about connectingthe dots, and you're looking for
more folks to register on your registryat ages eighteen to forty. Now,
I'm a regular blood donor, mostlyfor Children's Hospital and the Red Cross,
but this is a little different.Explain I want to hear like explain how
the process works. But once peopleget sign up at the registry, thankabe
helping us save lives on a wholedifferent level than just giving blood. You've
(01:08):
got it. First of all,thank you so much for being a regular
blood owner that helps so many patientsacross the country. So thank you for
that. To be a member ofwhat we like to refer to as the
greatest waiting list in the world,or the registry, to become a bowmarrow
(01:29):
or blood stem cells owner, it'sa super easy process. You do go
to our website, be the matchdot org, you register, fill out
a very brief health history questionnaire,and we send you a swab kit in
the mail. And once you getthat kit, there are some long Q
(01:49):
tip swabs in there, and youswab the inside of your mouth and send
that right back to us, andin a matter of weeks, you are
type and put on the registry andavailable for patients who have leukemia, lymphoma,
or other blood disorders like sickle cellto search to find their life saving
(02:10):
blood stem cell donor. So obviouslythis is much more than just knowing,
like I know, I'm a positiveblood type. So what does the swabbing
tell you, what does the swabbingtell you about us as a potential person
who's going to sign up and hopefullyget matched with someone to help save their
life. Yeah, so, believeit or not, we're not even really
looking at blood type at that pointin the process. We are looking at
(02:36):
a very small piece of your DNAcalled your HLA, and that is what
we use to match you to apatient who's in need. We also have
a very small piece of that patient'sDNA type to match to yours. And
over seventy percent of patients do nothave a fully matched donor in their family,
(03:02):
so they're relying on be the matchto help them find an anonymous,
unrelated donor who's willing to commit tosaving their life, who just happens to
be a match to their DNA.Right, it's a DNA match, Then
it sounds like, right, yes, compatible DNA, so to speak,
(03:22):
you've got it. You've got it. So we've got bone marrow. So
there's an essentially from what I understand, right, is there three ways that
you could help somebody potentially bone marrowchord blood in another way? Right,
there's three, there are three,You're exactly right, Lisa. So someone
can donate their newborn babies chord bloodor there are two other ways that you
(03:44):
can donate you said it. Oneis through a traditional bone marrow extraction through
your hip. That does not happenthat often. The majority of our donors
give through a special eyes blood drawkind of like giving plasma. Sure,
you're just there for a longer amountof time, and yeah, that's exactly
(04:11):
how the majority of our patients donate. And by the way, when you
give plasma, because I've donated plateletsat Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and you
get to watch a movie, y'all. So usually they make it really easy
for you and make you as comfortableas possible and you just kind of kick
back. You have your own laptopto watch whatever movie you want. They've
got a fantastic choice. Fantastic choiceis a whole huge list because you're gonna
(04:34):
be there for a couple hours orhowever long it takes, because they're essentially
borrowing your blood to spin out somegood stuff and then they put your blood
back in. Kind of right,that's exactly how they do it. When
you donate your bloodst themselves. Youcouldn't anticipate, you know, a half
day to you know, six orseven hours, but it's a perfect time
(04:55):
to netflix until we wherever you're donatebeing we make sure that the donor has
plenty of snacks and anything else thatthey are interested in to keep them comfortable
during you know, that process.But yeah, it's it's a pretty simple
process. In fact, most ofour donors, regardless if they give marrow
(05:19):
or bloods themselves, say that theywould do it again. And you know,
if that tells us anything, thenit should. It really explains how
altruistic our donors are. And we'relooking for anyone between the ages of eighteen
and forty years old to join theregistry to be matched with patients that need
(05:43):
them. There's over eighteen thousand patientsthat search our registry every single year,
and this year will probably facilitate alittle over seven thousand transplants for patients in
the US, and so there isstill a significant need. Now, some
of those patients that search the registrydo go on to have a family member
(06:06):
that is matched and willing to donate, but like I said, over seventy
percent of patients are relying on uson be the match to find an unrelated
donor. So joy how does itwork. Then so this registry again,
it's a worldwide registry to try tomatch as many people as possible. So
say that I'm able to donate inLos Angeles, and then so y'all handle
(06:30):
them. The transport of my veryprecious plasma and our beau marrow, however,
is going to work, right you? You handle all of that at
no cost to the donor, andright now, no cost of the donor.
We just show up zero yeah,zero cost to the donor. M
the donor doesn't even have to usetheir own health insurance. We cover everything.
(06:51):
So how it would work is ifonce you join the registry, if
you are matched by a patient,you would receive the call text email from
be the Match and you would committo following through for that patient. We
would send you to get a simpleblood draw to confirm that you are in
(07:15):
fact the perfect donor for this patientthat it's searching, and then we would
be with you every step of theway between that time that you're confirmed until
the day of your donation and theday of your donation is really dictated by
the patient's needs and the treatment thatthey're going under. But of course,
(07:36):
you know, we want to knowtoo, if the donor has you know,
any trips or any days that they'renot available, we want to be
sure that we're working together so thatyou can donate to the patient. So
on your donation day, we kindof already talked about that, it's the
perfect day to you know, Netflixand chill or whatever you're going to do
(07:58):
at the donation center or the collectioncenter as we like to call it.
And then once you're done donating,there is a volunteer courier that is waiting
there to take your precious bow marrowor bloodstemselves and carry it in there are
two little hands and deliver it whereverin the world the patient needs it.
(08:18):
In fact, on average, that'shappening about twenty five times a day.
And so right now as we speak, there are you know, volunteer couriers
on plane strains and optional bills withblue coolers with a life saving product in
those coolers delivering them to patients,and so so exciting, Like if you're
(08:41):
listening right now, if you're eighteen, between ages of eighteen and forty,
and I know there's a lot ofyou listening right now, how exciting to
know that if you're just going tobe the match dot org and get a
swab kit and just be considered tohelp save someone's life. It's happening twenty
five on average, twenty five timesa day. How citing that you,
just as you are, that gorgeousDNA that you have could potentially save someone's
(09:05):
life who's in really bad shape,someone who's also here in southern California or
across the country or across the world. You have life, life saving abilities
already within your body right now.And if you want to dig deep down
your soul and your hearts, knowif you are, if you are thinking
about doing this, I would loveto I didn't quite make the age bracket,
(09:26):
but I would love to be thatwe're overqualified. Okay, there you
got when someone's over the age offorty, So am I We just say
we're overqualified, that's right. Weencourage you know that other people in our
lives that we know to join theregistry. It is amazing to think about
(09:46):
that the cells in your body literallyhold the cure to secure a patient.
And the other amazing thing that happensis if both the donor and the patient
are in the US one year aftertransplant day, the patient and the donor
can consent to meeting each other,and as long as both the donor and
(10:09):
the patient consent, they can meet. And so for the patient and their
family, you can imagine how special. I'm crying already. I'm already working
at the tears, like, ohmy gosh, can you imagine meeting the
person who saved your life with yourbone marrow, with your with your plasma.
How exciting to meet that person,To have that meeting, and that's
(10:30):
hugs and tears for days and probablyan instant bestie friendship, relationship. Family.
You're gonna feel like family, probablyright, you got it. I
mean, we have donors who haveended up after they meet their recipient.
They've been asked to, you know, be in their weddings or you know
(10:50):
that the if the patient is apediatric patient, We've seen where they end
up, you know, being theflower girl or yes to your point,
though, most of those families becomevery fat, fast besties or you know,
family themselves. And it's incredible.And to be able to witness that
(11:11):
is even more incredible. And weare actually facilitating a donor recipient meeting in
La next Friday, August eleventh,at an event that we're hosting. Oh
yeah I heard about this, Yeahyes, yes, so as our Be
the Match La Sore is next Friday, August eleventh. Attendees will have the
(11:33):
chance to see a blood stempell transplant. We should can't meet those owner for
the very first time. Oh mygosh, wait, I wish I could
host that. I want to bethere just to see that. How emotional,
how powerful. I know it's atthe Skirball and it's a whole big
special fundraising night because fundraising is animportant part of what you do, because
(11:54):
there's lots going to research and there'slots going to pay for you taking care
of these patients, the patients onboth ends, and just to show people
the power of saving lives and personat this event next Friday at the Scoreball
Center, I mean, what amoment we do. And it's I mean,
it is just an incredible experience towitness that and provide so much hope
(12:18):
to you know, patients that areeither newly diagnosed or just learning that they
need to have a transplant to curetheir leukemia or lymphoma. And you know,
it is our responsibility at Be theMatch to find patients their life savings
owner. And the last thing wewant to do, Lisa is say,
oh, we have a donor who'swilling to follow through and donate and help
(12:41):
sure your leukemia, but that thepatient can't go to transplant because the burden
of the cost of you know,everything that they have to go to.
Most of our patients and facts haveto travel somewhere to receive their transplant because
they don't have a transplant center intheir own backyard. And the number one
(13:03):
burden or barrier that are reported byour patients is just that financial barriers.
And so our fundraising efforts help providefunds directly to patients in their families to
help cover copais, transportation, lodgings, whatever it is they need that funding
for wonderful, so so nice.And again, if you want to be
(13:26):
there to witness one of these incrediblymagical moments, if you want to be
at the be the match Los Angelessare at the Screwball next Friday, August
eleventh, you can just go directlyto be the match La suare dot org
one of those weird words sware,it's be the match La s o I
r ee dot org. And ingeneral, if you are hearing this conversation.
(13:50):
Now that this conversation Arizon seven iHeartRadiostations, so hoping to get some
folks who are considering helping to savesomeone's life. You never know, you
could have that magical DNA sitting inyour body right now as you drink your
coffee, and yeah, you couldchange someone's life. So all the information,
and thank you so much, Joy, Thank you so much for your
time, all the information at bethematch dot org. Be thematch dot org.
(14:13):
Thank you so much for all thatyou guys do to help connect the
dots to save lives and hopefully peoplelistening will want to be a part of
the potential magic and get on thatregistry and get it going. Thank you
Lisa for everything that you do tosupport our organization and help spread the word
about our life saving mission to savelives through self therapedia. Come on,
(14:35):
everybody, let's save some lives.Be the match dot org for more.
Thank you, Joy, Thank you
Hi, It's Lisa Fox. Thankyou for listening. This is the iHeart
So Cal Show. All right,So are you ready to be the Match?
Be Someone's match? A match thatcould save their life. For the
thousands of people diagnosed every year withlife threatening blood cancers like leukemia and the
foma, a cure does exist.Over the past thirty five years, an
organization called Be the Match, operatedby the National Marrow Donor Program. They've
(00:24):
managed the most diverse marrow registry inthe world. They're hoping you're gonna get
signed up for their registry because it'sall in hopes of making life saving matches.
Be the Match dot org as theirwebsite for all the info, but
we're also going to hear about itfrom their chief advancement officer, Joy King.
Hi, Joy, Hello, Lisa, Thank you for having me.
Of course, I just want tospread the word about this life saving process.
(00:46):
Be the Match is all about connectingthe dots, and you're looking for
more folks to register on your registryat ages eighteen to forty. Now,
I'm a regular blood donor, mostlyfor Children's Hospital and the Red Cross,
but this is a little different.Explain I want to hear like explain how
the process works. But once peopleget sign up at the registry, thankabe
helping us save lives on a wholedifferent level than just giving blood. You've
(01:08):
got it. First of all,thank you so much for being a regular
blood owner that helps so many patientsacross the country. So thank you for
that. To be a member ofwhat we like to refer to as the
greatest waiting list in the world,or the registry, to become a bowmarrow
(01:29):
or blood stem cells owner, it'sa super easy process. You do go
to our website, be the matchdot org, you register, fill out
a very brief health history questionnaire,and we send you a swab kit in
the mail. And once you getthat kit, there are some long Q
(01:49):
tip swabs in there, and youswab the inside of your mouth and send
that right back to us, andin a matter of weeks, you are
type and put on the registry andavailable for patients who have leukemia, lymphoma,
or other blood disorders like sickle cellto search to find their life saving
(02:10):
blood stem cell donor. So obviouslythis is much more than just knowing,
like I know, I'm a positiveblood type. So what does the swabbing
tell you, what does the swabbingtell you about us as a potential person
who's going to sign up and hopefullyget matched with someone to help save their
life. Yeah, so, believeit or not, we're not even really
looking at blood type at that pointin the process. We are looking at
(02:36):
a very small piece of your DNAcalled your HLA, and that is what
we use to match you to apatient who's in need. We also have
a very small piece of that patient'sDNA type to match to yours. And
over seventy percent of patients do nothave a fully matched donor in their family,
(03:02):
so they're relying on be the matchto help them find an anonymous,
unrelated donor who's willing to commit tosaving their life, who just happens to
be a match to their DNA.Right, it's a DNA match, Then
it sounds like, right, yes, compatible DNA, so to speak,
(03:22):
you've got it. You've got it. So we've got bone marrow. So
there's an essentially from what I understand, right, is there three ways that
you could help somebody potentially bone marrowchord blood in another way? Right,
there's three, there are three,You're exactly right, Lisa. So someone
can donate their newborn babies chord bloodor there are two other ways that you
(03:44):
can donate you said it. Oneis through a traditional bone marrow extraction through
your hip. That does not happenthat often. The majority of our donors
give through a special eyes blood drawkind of like giving plasma. Sure,
you're just there for a longer amountof time, and yeah, that's exactly
(04:11):
how the majority of our patients donate. And by the way, when you
give plasma, because I've donated plateletsat Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and you
get to watch a movie, y'all. So usually they make it really easy
for you and make you as comfortableas possible and you just kind of kick
back. You have your own laptopto watch whatever movie you want. They've
got a fantastic choice. Fantastic choiceis a whole huge list because you're gonna
(04:34):
be there for a couple hours orhowever long it takes, because they're essentially
borrowing your blood to spin out somegood stuff and then they put your blood
back in. Kind of right,that's exactly how they do it. When
you donate your bloodst themselves. Youcouldn't anticipate, you know, a half
day to you know, six orseven hours, but it's a perfect time
(04:55):
to netflix until we wherever you're donatebeing we make sure that the donor has
plenty of snacks and anything else thatthey are interested in to keep them comfortable
during you know, that process.But yeah, it's it's a pretty simple
process. In fact, most ofour donors, regardless if they give marrow
(05:19):
or bloods themselves, say that theywould do it again. And you know,
if that tells us anything, thenit should. It really explains how
altruistic our donors are. And we'relooking for anyone between the ages of eighteen
and forty years old to join theregistry to be matched with patients that need
(05:43):
them. There's over eighteen thousand patientsthat search our registry every single year,
and this year will probably facilitate alittle over seven thousand transplants for patients in
the US, and so there isstill a significant need. Now, some
of those patients that search the registrydo go on to have a family member
(06:06):
that is matched and willing to donate, but like I said, over seventy
percent of patients are relying on uson be the match to find an unrelated
donor. So joy how does itwork. Then so this registry again,
it's a worldwide registry to try tomatch as many people as possible. So
say that I'm able to donate inLos Angeles, and then so y'all handle
(06:30):
them. The transport of my veryprecious plasma and our beau marrow, however,
is going to work, right you? You handle all of that at
no cost to the donor, andright now, no cost of the donor.
We just show up zero yeah,zero cost to the donor. M
the donor doesn't even have to usetheir own health insurance. We cover everything.
(06:51):
So how it would work is ifonce you join the registry, if
you are matched by a patient,you would receive the call text email from
be the Match and you would committo following through for that patient. We
would send you to get a simpleblood draw to confirm that you are in
(07:15):
fact the perfect donor for this patientthat it's searching, and then we would
be with you every step of theway between that time that you're confirmed until
the day of your donation and theday of your donation is really dictated by
the patient's needs and the treatment thatthey're going under. But of course,
(07:36):
you know, we want to knowtoo, if the donor has you know,
any trips or any days that they'renot available, we want to be
sure that we're working together so thatyou can donate to the patient. So
on your donation day, we kindof already talked about that, it's the
perfect day to you know, Netflixand chill or whatever you're going to do
(07:58):
at the donation center or the collectioncenter as we like to call it.
And then once you're done donating,there is a volunteer courier that is waiting
there to take your precious bow marrowor bloodstemselves and carry it in there are
two little hands and deliver it whereverin the world the patient needs it.
(08:18):
In fact, on average, that'shappening about twenty five times a day.
And so right now as we speak, there are you know, volunteer couriers
on plane strains and optional bills withblue coolers with a life saving product in
those coolers delivering them to patients,and so so exciting, Like if you're
(08:41):
listening right now, if you're eighteen, between ages of eighteen and forty,
and I know there's a lot ofyou listening right now, how exciting to
know that if you're just going tobe the match dot org and get a
swab kit and just be considered tohelp save someone's life. It's happening twenty
five on average, twenty five timesa day. How citing that you,
just as you are, that gorgeousDNA that you have could potentially save someone's
(09:05):
life who's in really bad shape,someone who's also here in southern California or
across the country or across the world. You have life, life saving abilities
already within your body right now.And if you want to dig deep down
your soul and your hearts, knowif you are, if you are thinking
about doing this, I would loveto I didn't quite make the age bracket,
(09:26):
but I would love to be thatwe're overqualified. Okay, there you
got when someone's over the age offorty, So am I We just say
we're overqualified, that's right. Weencourage you know that other people in our
lives that we know to join theregistry. It is amazing to think about
(09:46):
that the cells in your body literallyhold the cure to secure a patient.
And the other amazing thing that happensis if both the donor and the patient
are in the US one year aftertransplant day, the patient and the donor
can consent to meeting each other,and as long as both the donor and
(10:09):
the patient consent, they can meet. And so for the patient and their
family, you can imagine how special. I'm crying already. I'm already working
at the tears, like, ohmy gosh, can you imagine meeting the
person who saved your life with yourbone marrow, with your with your plasma.
How exciting to meet that person,To have that meeting, and that's
(10:30):
hugs and tears for days and probablyan instant bestie friendship, relationship. Family.
You're gonna feel like family, probablyright, you got it. I
mean, we have donors who haveended up after they meet their recipient.
They've been asked to, you know, be in their weddings or you know
(10:50):
that the if the patient is apediatric patient, We've seen where they end
up, you know, being theflower girl or yes to your point,
though, most of those families becomevery fat, fast besties or you know,
family themselves. And it's incredible.And to be able to witness that
(11:11):
is even more incredible. And weare actually facilitating a donor recipient meeting in
La next Friday, August eleventh,at an event that we're hosting. Oh
yeah I heard about this, Yeahyes, yes, so as our Be
the Match La Sore is next Friday, August eleventh. Attendees will have the
(11:33):
chance to see a blood stempell transplant. We should can't meet those owner for
the very first time. Oh mygosh, wait, I wish I could
host that. I want to bethere just to see that. How emotional,
how powerful. I know it's atthe Skirball and it's a whole big
special fundraising night because fundraising is animportant part of what you do, because
(11:54):
there's lots going to research and there'slots going to pay for you taking care
of these patients, the patients onboth ends, and just to show people
the power of saving lives and personat this event next Friday at the Scoreball
Center, I mean, what amoment we do. And it's I mean,
it is just an incredible experience towitness that and provide so much hope
(12:18):
to you know, patients that areeither newly diagnosed or just learning that they
need to have a transplant to curetheir leukemia or lymphoma. And you know,
it is our responsibility at Be theMatch to find patients their life savings
owner. And the last thing wewant to do, Lisa is say,
oh, we have a donor who'swilling to follow through and donate and help
(12:41):
sure your leukemia, but that thepatient can't go to transplant because the burden
of the cost of you know,everything that they have to go to.
Most of our patients and facts haveto travel somewhere to receive their transplant because
they don't have a transplant center intheir own backyard. And the number one
(13:03):
burden or barrier that are reported byour patients is just that financial barriers.
And so our fundraising efforts help providefunds directly to patients in their families to
help cover copais, transportation, lodgings, whatever it is they need that funding
for wonderful, so so nice.And again, if you want to be
(13:26):
there to witness one of these incrediblymagical moments, if you want to be
at the be the match Los Angelessare at the Screwball next Friday, August
eleventh, you can just go directlyto be the match La suare dot org
one of those weird words sware,it's be the match La s o I
r ee dot org. And ingeneral, if you are hearing this conversation.
(13:50):
Now that this conversation Arizon seven iHeartRadiostations, so hoping to get some
folks who are considering helping to savesomeone's life. You never know, you
could have that magical DNA sitting inyour body right now as you drink your
coffee, and yeah, you couldchange someone's life. So all the information,
and thank you so much, Joy, Thank you so much for your
time, all the information at bethematch dot org. Be thematch dot org.
(14:13):
Thank you so much for all thatyou guys do to help connect the
dots to save lives and hopefully peoplelistening will want to be a part of
the potential magic and get on thatregistry and get it going. Thank you
Lisa for everything that you do tosupport our organization and help spread the word
about our life saving mission to savelives through self therapedia. Come on,
(14:35):
everybody, let's save some lives.Be the match dot org for more.
Thank you, Joy, Thank you
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