After the news that PSV spokesman Thijs Slegers can no longer be cured, about 300 new stem cell donors have already registered. That is what Bert Elbertse of the Matchis Foundation says.
For patients with a form of blood cancer, such as Thijs Slegers, stem cells from a donor are very much needed. The treatment was not successful with the former PSV spokesperson. Slegers made a social appeal on Thursday to become a stem cell donor: “I can no longer be helped, but others can,” he wrote, among other things.
Almost all men
Elbertse finds it double that people are now signing up because of this news. “It’s really a lot. You normally only get 300 registrations at once when we are campaigning. And the great thing is that they are now almost all men. And they don’t normally register that quickly.”
Elbertse thinks Thijs Slegers’ story touches many people. “It was impressive that call. That makes an impression.”
Slegers announced on Thursday afternoon that he has received new stem cells, but that the treatment has not worked and that the doctors can no longer do anything for him.
A stem cell transplant is necessary when the body no longer produces healthy blood cells. Before the transplant, the patient’s own immune system is first switched off by chemotherapy, for example.
Fate
The new stem cells from a donor must ensure that the patient’s body starts producing healthy blood cells again. So Thijs Slegers’ own immune system no longer works and the transplant of donor cells failed. According to Slegers, the after-effects will be fatal for him.
“We have no choice but to accept fate and deal with it,” he writes. The last thing he wants to do is help other patients who may benefit from the treatment: “If you really want to make us happy, register as a stem cell donor at matchis or become a blood donor at Sanquin. I can no longer be helped, but others can.”
Hundreds of people have already registered.
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