Weaving Your Social Strand

by Michael Macher

Every four minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. But for people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure actually exists. If patients are connected with the right donor, they can receive a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant that could save their life. All they need is a match.

Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. The nonprofit organization matches patients with donors, educates health care professionals and conducts research so more lives can be saved. And you can be someone’s cure as a member of the Be The Match Registry®, a financial contributor or even a volunteer.

Be The Match has created a site called My Social Strand to raise awareness around blood cancers, and to invite as many people as possible to join their registry of donors. So what is My Social Strand?

My Social Strand is a tool that cruises through your Facebook data to unearth interesting facts about your social network. The experience combines “lighter” findings (such as the No. 1 movie the year you were born and what your choice of phone case says about you) with more serious messages about the need for marrow donors and the prevalence of blood cancer in your social network

When I took the My Social Strand quiz, I found out that despite having way more than the average number of fb friends (550 compared to the average of 130), I still manage to post below the average amount per month (9 posts a month vs. the average of 90) and appear in way fewer photos than the average person (160 vs 282). I also discovered that 7 of my friends will likely be affected by leukemia in their lifetimes, either directly or indirectly through friends or relatives.

You can check out the tool here, and sign up to be a donor on BeTheMatch.org. Why not? You could save someone’s life.

More Facts About Blood Cancer and Marrow Donations

• Every year, more than 12,000 patients are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases — such as leukemia and lymphoma — for which a marrow or cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor may be their best or only hope of a cure.

• 70 percent of all patients who need a transplant do not have a matched donor in their family. They depend on the Be The Match Registry to find an unrelated donor or cord blood unit.