Crystal awards for saving lives

 Each of the three awards bearing the motif of a tree – the symbol of life – passes under approximately 20 pairs of hands during its creation. The most demanding part of the multi-week process is the decoration of the glass item by cutting and engraving – in both cases, great emphasis is put on accuracy and detail. 

At the start of this year, a total of 39,654,883 bone marrow donors were registered globally, with 100,375 of them entered in the Czech national registry. Increasing the chance of survival for those suffering from a bone marrow disorder means constantly finding new volunteers. Furthermore, last year’s efforts were complicated by the pandemic. We are thus even more honoured to contribute to the rewarding of those who help create the ideal conditions for supporting the Registry’s mission. 

Though the number of donors is remarkable and the option to contact them works internationally, there are still many patients waiting to find a donor. Their recruitment is the work of the team of the Czech National Marrow Donors Registry, which has been helping those with oncological blood disorders, primarily in the Czech Republic, since 1992. 

Few know how difficult it is to succeed in this battle for human life. Few know that for every 120 registered donors, there is only a single patient-donor match. Our glassworks has been a proud partner of the registry, or rather, of its patron foundation, for nearly twenty years and sees the expansion of the donor database as a very urgent matter: 

“We join in thanking all those who have chosen to become a donor, as well as those who helped recruit donors, and we look forward to future collaboration!” 

What we should all know: 

•  in most cases, there is NO other way to save the life of a patient suffering a haematopoietic stem cell disorder other than a bone marrow transplant 
• 75 % of bone marrow donors are not related to the patient; they are volunteer donors 
• unfortunately, every fourth patient does not find a suitable donor, which is why continuously increasing the number of potential donors in the registry is required 
• your entry in the registry increases the chance a patient finds their donor 
• number of registered donors around the world: 39,654,883 
• number of donors registered in CNMDR: 100,375 
• number of haematopoietic stem cell transplants extracted thanks to CNMDR: 1,994 

• if you are selected as a suitable donor, you can agree to go through with the transplant or not, it is up to you 

• if you consent to the transplant, you can choose from two types of haematopoietic stem cell extraction (the choice is again yours): 

  1. classic extraction of marrow from the bone (traditional method / anaesthesia) 

  2. acquiring of cells from venous blood via separation, in a process similar to blood plasma separation

transplant success rate:

• 60–80 % in adult patients 
• 70–90 % in children