Hello, family and friends!

Register here if you have an appeal code

Have you seen an appeal for more donors to join the registry? If you have the appeal code handy, you’re in the right place! If you don’t have an appeal code, check out our other ways to register.

It’s not just Strength to Give that want to see more donors on Australia’s registry. Current and former patients can run their own appeal for people to join the registry, raising awareness about the need for donors and telling their own personal story.
If you’d like to run an appeal, contact us.

Every appeal has a unique code which lets us know how many people joined through that appeal. Appeal organisers will not be given any information about anyone that joins the registry. Appeal codes usually expire after 3 months, so if you want to use a code you’ll need to get in quick!

Blood stem cell donation is a simple, safe process that can potentially cure an otherwise incurable disease and save a life. Before signing up, check out our website to understand more about the donation process, find out what our donors and patients have to say and how we protect your privacy and anonymity.

Because transplant patients need a donor that genetically matches their immune system, most who join the registry will never be asked to donate. It’s important to understand that the odds of you being a match for someone you know is many millions to one; it’s much, much more likely that if you match anyone, it’ll be someone don’t know, maybe even someone living overseas.

Every year thousands of patients in Australia and overseas come to us looking for a match – so our donors must agree to donate to anyone in need of a transplant, anywhere in the world. Just by joining, you are offering critically ill patients hope.

For those that do match a patient, donating blood stem cells isn’t a big deal. Most of the time you’ll have a short course of injections followed by a few hours sitting in a chair while your life-saving cells are filtered out of your blood. We’ll be with you every step of the way making sure you get the best medical care and all the information you could possibly need.

Once you sign up we’ll pop a cheek swab kit in the post for you. Normally we’d expect to have these swabs in your hands – and your cheeks! – within 2 weeks. However while we are setting up, it will take a little longer – once you enrol we’ll let you know when to expect them. This kit will tell you how to swab your cheeks and return them to us.

Remember, until we get your swabs back and get them tested*, you aren’t helping patients – so please swab as soon as you get your kit! Once you have swabbed, you need to send them back to us as quickly as you can, to protect your sample.

We know you’re here because you have been personally touched by someone’s story and have committed yourself to helping. So if you’re ready to do this, let’s go!

*We only test swabs for your tissue and blood type, as well as whether you have been exposed to cytomegalovirus (CMV) – a common virus that can cause complications in transplant patients.

So, if you are:

Aged between 18-35 (see why an age limit is necessary)

Willing to anonymously donate your blood stem cells to anyone in need of a transplant, anywhere in the world

Generally healthy (we cover this in a bit more detail in the next steps)

Ready to do this

Let’s Go!

Begin your enrolment