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STORIES

What is World Marrow Donor Day?

Sep 14, 2023 by Gift of Life News

In 2015, the World Marrow Donor Association set the third Saturday of September as an annual day of recognition for blood stem cell and marrow donors, World Marrow Donor Day.  

Each year since then, marrow registries around the world have found myriad ways to honor donors, recognize those who have joined the registry in the hope of saving a life, and celebrate the millions of lives saved by donors.  

Donors from many registries write personal notes on placards and take selfies to share the message about registries through their social media channels. 

Among the incredible ways registries and collection centers celebrate their donors include short films, rallies, the lighting of landmark buildings, messages collected from donors internationally, and of course, the Cake-Off Contest, a friendly competition between registries to see who can design a really terrific cake! 

How you can participate

Gift of Life Marrow Registry is an enthusiastic partner every year, and we invite you to join us in celebrating the day.  Download an #UNselfie sign and fill out your message expressing your gratitude to stem cells nad marrow donors. 

Donors can participate too with a special sign that says “I Swabbed! Matched! Donated!” – you can inspire others to join the registry!

Click this image of the World Marrow Donor Day #UNselfie and show the world how unselfish you are -- fill in your message and post a post of you with your card online with the hashtages #WMDD23 and #UNselfie.

 

Click on an image to download a PDF for printing. 

 

Gift of Life invites all previous donors who have given stem cells or bone marrow to print out an "I swabbed, matched donated!" card and take a selfie for World Marrow Donor Day. Don't forget to tag us!

Take a selfie with your card, then post it online – and remember to tag it with the hashtags #UNselfie and #WMDD23. Here are our channels so you can tag Gift of Life as well! 

Facebook: @giftoflife   

Twitter: @giftoflife  

TikTok: @giftoflifemarrowregistry  

 

Thank you to each and every donor – from Gift of Life and from every registry worldwide – who has given blood stem cells or marrow so that a stranger can have a second chance at life.

Thank you to every person who joins the registry in the hope that you, too, will someday be able to save a life. 

You are our heroes! 

In 2016, Gift of Life Marrow Registry built the Guinness Book of World Records "World's Largest Swab" for the World Marrow Donor Day celebration.

Gift of Life built the Guiness Book of World Records "World's Largest Swab" for the second World Marrow Donor Day in 2016.

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Gift of Life Marrow Registry lit up Niagara Falls in orange to honor marrow and stem cells donors around the world on World Marrow Donor Day.

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Gift of Life lit up Niagara Falls in orange to honor donors around the world.

In 2022, Gift of Life Marrow Registry celebrated the 1000th donor collected at the organization's in-house stem cell collection center for World Marrow Donor Day. Posing here is CEO Jay Feinberg with the traditional WMDD theme cake.

In 2022, Gift of Life's cake celebrated the 1000th stem cell collection at Gift of Life's Adelson Collection Center, located right in our headquarters. 

 

Please follow our social media to see what we do for #WMDD23, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for heartwarming videos of our heroic donors meeting their courageous recipients, fun and exciting Gift of Life events, and more!