Whether you want to recruit new stem cell donors in support of a specific patient (we call this a ‘patient appeal’), raise lifesaving money to fund new donors, or raise awareness among your friends and networks, we’re here to help.
Getting involved in an appeal can help reach new audiences and create much-needed awareness of our work. However, you’d like to get involved, we’re here to help every step of the way with:
Please get in touch – call us on our toll-free number 08000 8888, or mobile +389 71 212233 to work out the best way to help.
A great place to start spreading the word is on social media where your friends and networks can get the message even further. So, we’ve put together some top tips to help you get the most out of social media and get as many people sharing as possible.
Make it personal
Setting up a Facebook page is a great place to start – give it a name and add a photo to make it personal (selfies or phone pictures are absolutely great), and make sure you share it with us or tag @SFSMDR so we can help you spread the word.
What name should I choose?
Choose a name that really reflects who you are and what you’re doing – and if it’s memorable too, that’s great, as you’ll be easily found and followed. For example, ‘Hope for Violeta’ or ‘Match for Boris’.
Life on camera
Sharing photos is always engaging and will make your page stand out for all the right reasons. You can also share live videos on Facebook, or film updates and thank you clips for your followers. Just bear in mind that not everyone wants to have their photo shared, so always try to get approval before posting – ask for approval before posting with a private message, email, or even better in person.
Keep it updated
Remember to keep updating your page with news about your campaign, photos, fundraising milestones, and links to relevant news. This will help to ensure that your page keeps popping up on people’s newsfeeds, letting your story reach new audiences.
Like us
Make sure you ‘like’ the SFSMDR page so we can support you – and let us know if you’d like us to share your page with our followers. Check out our Facebook pages to see what others are posting at https://www.facebook.com/sfsmdr.
It’s good to share
To make your content as shareable as possible, add photos, links and personal messages to really grab attention and make it easy for other patients and families to find you and join a supportive community.
Below are some key facts and statistics that you might find useful. For more information, contact us on our email or toll-free number 080008888.
SFSMDR uses its registry to match potential stem cell donors to blood cancer patients in desperate need of a stem cell transplant.
We need more men aged 18–51 to sign up as they are underrepresented on the registry. Young men currently make up only 18% of our registry, but they provide an astonishing 55% of all donations.
Young people are also most likely to be chosen to donate as they provide better outcomes for patients and are less likely to have long-term health problems which might delay or prevent donation.
We urgently need more people from minority ethnic backgrounds to sign up as stem cell donors (Albanian, Vlachs, Romani people, Turks, Serbs, Macedonian Muslims and other).
Only 0.12% of the citizens in Republic of Macedonia are registered as potential stem cell donors versus the 13% citizens of Cyprus (108 times more), 12% in Israel (100 times more), 9% in Germany (75 times more), 1.5% in Croatia (12,5 times more) and 1.0% in Slovenia (8.3 times more).
Around 90% of stem cell transplantations (marrow) are performed by collecting stem cells from peripheral blood (PBSC). This procedure is similar to donating blood. It takes about 5 hours for this simple outpatient procedure. The other 10% of the stem cell transplantations are performed by collecting stem cells from the pelvis.
After joining the registry, you have a 1 in 800 chance to be called upon to donate. But, your chance to be chosen for donation depends on your age and gender. A young man aged 16-30 has a 1 in 200 chance to be chosen for donation.
To join our registry, you have to be 18-50 years old, have more than 50kg and be in a good health condition.
There are three main types of blood cancer – leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
Blood cancers are life-threatening partly because they stop a person’s immune system from working properly.
When someone’s immune system is severely damaged, they can die from an infection their body could normally fight off.
On average, 104 people a day are diagnosed with blood cancer.
That’s one person every 14 minutes.
All blood cells originate from the bone marrow from the same type of cells, called blood stem cells.
A blood stem cell (or bone marrow) transplantation can replace the person’s damaged immune system by blood cancer – but only if the donor’s tissue type matches.
For many people with blood cancer, a transplantation is their last chance for life.
The transplantation works by taking blood stem cells from a healthy donor and giving them to someone with blood cancer or a blood disorder.
The donor and the recipient must have the same tissue type. As there are millions of different combinations, finding a suitable match is very complicated.
We urgently need more people to join our registry so we can provide more matches and save more lives.
As a charity, we need more funds to increase our lifesaving work. Expanding our donor registry costs money.
The more funds we have, the more lives we can save.
Give it a name
Make sure you pick a relevant username, so people know who you are and can find you easily. Say ‘hello’ by tagging @SFSMDR – that way we can get behind you and help spread the word.
Hashtag it
The same goes for a # hashtag. Tag your posts with relevant words or phrases, so they’re easily found. You can tag in relevant celebrities too, and ask if they can lend a hand getting the word out. Take a look around at what other people are doing to help get you started.
Short and sweet
Keep it brief and shareable and tweet as often as you’d like to build up followers and really get the conversation going.
Scientific Foundation SPIROSKI is founded on 03.02.2002 year.
Registered in Central Registry for Foundations with UBIN: 5889243 and VAT: 4030004519877
Registered address: st. Rajko Zhinzifov br. 48, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
