September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, and more than 1.5 million people in the United States are living with or are in remission from blood cancer, according to Blood Cancer United.
In Colorado, the CU Anschutz School of Medicine reports there are approximately 2,660 new cases of blood cancer each year.
“Most people don’t know that cancer does involve the blood system and the immune system, and they might not have a loved one who had that diagnosis before. So, our staging is different, our treatments are entirely different, and how we treat and support the patients are a lot different as well,” said Dr. Michael Tees, a lymphoma specialist who also provides stem cell transplants, cellular therapeutics, and immunotherapy.
Tees said there are currently no preventative screenings for blood cancer.
“But really, that’s where it becomes important to be aware of what blood cancer is and how we treat the patients. So many times we do need to be talking about a stem cell transplant, but many other times, almost all our treatments do require the support of blood and blood products to support the patients during their time of need,” Tees said.
Tees works with nurses like Destiny Humphrey, a HCA HealthONE registered nurse at the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute.
“I work directly with patients who are affected by blood cancer, as well as, you know, their family members, and so I've just seen firsthand how blood cancer can affect families and people," Humphrey said. "And so it just means a lot to me to bring awareness to it."
Humphrey is currently serving as Miss Aurora and is using her platform, Be the Match, Be the Lifeline, to spread awareness about blood cancer and the need for blood donors.
“Our patients receive a lot of blood products throughout their treatment—blood and platelets—and we do have a shortage of blood donors right now," Humphrey said. "And so, just educating the community about the importance of that and where their blood or platelets would be going. And then for the stem cell donor registry, we have—there's a disparity for people of color. Our patients of color can be up to 50% less likely to find a match, and even less likely to find a perfect match."
Tees further explained the importance of having more donors of color.
“Typically, we have the higher likelihood of finding a match within that ancestral root, and therefore have sometimes more trouble finding the best matches for those that are underrepresented,” Tees said.
Humphrey and Tees said donating blood stem cells does not necessarily require a bone marrow transplant, which has often been described as a painful procedure.
“Ninety percent of adult stem cell transplants are done by peripheral blood stem cell collections and then stem cell infusions. So what that means for a potential donor is that they would get a medicine that's a natural product that essentially stimulates your stem cells to grow, and then it spills out from the bone marrow into the blood supply," Tees said. "And they are connected to a machine that's a lot like a dialysis machine, and takes out what we need, which are just the stem cells, and puts everything back inside of them in rapid fire. So it is very non-invasive."
Both Tees and Humphrey said they want to educate as many people as possible about blood cancer and the role community members can play in helping treat the disease.
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