September

Cancers of the blood can be especially frightening because they are essentially circulating throughout the entire body. While some are aware of leukemia and lymphoma as primary blood cancers, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative neoplasms are other conditions in this disease class. Blood cancers are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Blood cancers affect the production and function of blood cells. Most of these cancers start in the bone marrow where blood is produced. Treatment can include chemotherapy, but largely stem cell transplantation (bone marrow transplant) is necessary to push the disease into remission. Therefore, keeping a vast number of stem cell donors available is essential.