is enabling quick and affordable access to matching stem cells to Indians with blood cancer and Thalassemia through the public stem cell bank and BeTheCure Registry. Annually, about 120,000 Indians (more than 30% are children), living globally, are diagnosed with blood cancers. Transplantation of stem cells from donated cord blood or from bone marrow donors can cure 60 to 80% of them. Finding a matching donor or stem cell unit, done through HLA typing (Human Leukocyte Antigen, a DNA), remains the key factor for success. HLA distribution is highly ethnicity dependent and the HLA of Indians differ from the other ethnic populations. Hence, more than 90% of Indians have very little chance of finding a match in the 28 million plus international registry. If lucky to find one, it will cost over USD 45,000! Indians with blood cancers and Thalassemia must have quick and affordable or free access to matching stem cells from donated cord blood or bone marrow donors for life saving treatment. An inventory of 50,000 stem cell units from donated cord blood and a registry of a million bone marrow donors of Indian ethnicity will enhance the chances of finding a match for of Indian patients to over 70%. Jeevan was established in 1995 as a non-profit organisation. Since 2008, Jeevan operates the Public Cord Blood Bank, the largest in the SAARC region with over 6250 units of stem cells ready for transplant. Jeevan also operates a Bone Marrow Donor Registry (2015) with over 5300 committed blood donors. Jeevan has facilitated over 49 transplants through the registries and free high resolution HLA typing services. Our major donors are Government of TN, ADB (GOI Loan), Cognizant Foundation, Tata Trusts, ONGC, India Cements, Oracle, Electromech (Pune), Palayam Foundation, Rotary International and Freemasons. The current Board of Trustees includes Dr. Srinivasan Periathiruvadi M.D. (Co-Founder and Chairman), Dr. Saranya Narayan M.D. (Co-Founder and Medical Director), Mr. M R Sivaraman IAS (Former Revenue Secretary, Government of India), Mr. Keshav Desiraju IAS (Former Health Secretary, Government of India), Dr. Gita Arjun AB (OBG), Mr. Jayendra Panchapakesan (Qube Cinema Technologies) and Mr. Pravin Shekar (Mentor & Startup Specialist). Jeevan is committed to scale this up to 30,000 cord blood units and 100,000 bone marrow donors before 2022. Jeevan is also committed to provide stem cells from donated cord blood free of cost to Indians with a family income of less than INR 5 Lakhs. Jeevan is also committed to curtail the cost of processing the stem cells from a bone marrow donor to less than 3 Lakhs. Others will be encouraged to make a donation to ensure sustainability. Without wasting any more time, we Indians need to help our future generations and ourselves. We need to WORK TOGETHER to create awareness at all levels and generate support to scale-up this lifesaving project to save Indians with blood cancers living globally. Jeevan is accredited by Charities Aid Foundation, ED certified, and donations will be eligible for tax exemption in India (80G) and USA (501(c)(3)). Support Jeevan at www.millioncells.in
