When Bradley Peters signed up with Matches on the Map, an inter-continental stem cell recruitment drive, he had no idea that he would be a potential match for someone living in South America.
Peters, a 23-year-old apprentice mechanic in East London, signed up at an awareness drive last year.
That exciting call
Six months later, he was informed that his stem cells would be able to save another person’s life thousands of kilometres away.
“When they called me, I wasn’t sure if it was a scam as I had already forgotten that I had signed up to the SABMR. I had no idea that a cheek swab would be the beginning of saving someone’s life! After I received the call, the SABMR set the wheels in motion to conduct the necessary testing to confirm whether I was a suitable match,” he said.
Matches on the Map was started in September 2023 by Mpumalanga couple, Robin and Jolandie Lewis.
Founder’s survivor journey
Robin himself is a stem cell transplant survivor after he was diagnosed with Fanconi Anaemia, a genetic DNA repair disorder that can lead to bone marrow failure, leukaemia, or solid tumours in the body. He underwent a stem cell transplant in 2018.
He said finding the initiative’s first match is a huge motivation.
“Finding our first match in Bradley has hugely motivated us to keep pushing onwards. We’ve been on the road for the last 19 months and held successful recruitment drives in Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa, and we’re currently traversing our fourth country, Namibia. This has by far been the highlight of our project,” he said.
He added that if it wasn’t for ‘Betsy’, their beloved custom-built motor home, they would have never met Peters in East London or known that he was a suitable donor match.
The Matches on the Map team is currently in Namibia, after which they will be off to Angola, where the SABMR will be assisting with a translator and an additional team member to help recruit stem cell donors.
How you can help
The chance of finding a suitable stem cell donor match for any patient is 1 in 100 000 and the odds increase even further based on ethnicity. The donor pool in South Africa is unfortunately not reflective of the country’s population, meaning that the chance of finding a donor for patients of colour is near impossible.
If you’re between the ages of 16 and 45 and relatively healthy, you may be eligible to become a stem cell donor. To register and view the donor exclusion criteria, visit www.sabmr.co.za
