“You may only be one person to the world; but to one person, you may be the world!”

There are around 1,000 new cases of leukemia in Austria every year, including some children. The chances of finding a 100% compatible stem cell donation range from 1:500,000 to several million. Only 2% of all Austrians are typed and registered as stem cell donors. Stem cell donations are often the last hope for a cure.

For more than 25 years, the “Geben für Leben” association has been organizing typing campaigns so that people can register and be typed as stem cell donors. Around 500 of all registered Austrians have already become donors. They have become lifesavers, yet many patients are still waiting for their last chance to survive. It only takes a few steps that both you and we can take to give a person suffering from leukemia hope for survival. And this hope is great, with up to a 70% chance of recovery after a stem cell transplant for leukemia patients!

What does “typing” mean?

• Typing is very simple, painless, and only takes a few minutes!
• Typing involves a simple cheek swab using 2 cotton swabs.
• In principle, anyone who is healthy, between 17 and 45 years old, and weighs at least 50 kg can register and be typed as a stem cell donor.
• If you are indeed a match for a patient, there are two types of stem cell donation that take place in a clinic located in Austria or Germany:
  • 80% of stem cell donations are carried out on an outpatient basis by means of blood washing, similar to dialysis.
  • In rare cases, usually when the affected leukemia patient is a child or an acute case of leukemia, a bone marrow donation is performed.
• To prevent widespread misunderstandings: The blood stem cells are located in the bone marrow. The spinal cord in the spinal canal is therefore never touched.
• There are no costs involved for donors.

Since each typing costs the association “Geben für Leben – Leukämiehilfe Österreich” € 40, voluntary donations are very helpful and enable further typing.

We organized a typing campaign for our Haslinger / Nagele team at our offices in Linz and Vienna. All employees were free to get typed and registered. Following the positive response from our employees and the large number of participants, we can report a successful typing campaign.

Would you like to organize your own typing campaign in your company? You can find all the information here: Typing campaign for companies.

Do you want to save lives yourself?

If you would like to become a donor or support the “Geben für Leben” association with a donation, you will find all the necessary information on the website. Because we are stronger together!

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This year, our Christmas card was again designed by “VOI – the association for original inclusion“. The drawing is by Simon Werl.