bone marrow release
For Immediate Release
SheKnows Puts Focus on Bone Marrow Awareness–Pledges to Add 50,000 Donors to International Bone Marrow Registry by Next Year
LOS ANGELES–August 4, 2008–SheKnows.com, one of the fastest growing online destinations for women, announced today the launch of their dedicated feature site promoting bone marrow awareness and offering its users a chance to participate in this life-saving movement by registering for a bone marrow donor kit.
In partnership with Save Giovanni’s Friends and the leading bone marrow donor agency DKMS Americas, SheKnows pledges to add 50,000 new donors to the international bone marrow registry by 2009. Michael Guglielmo, leader of the Save Giovanni’s Friends movement, is taking the search for new bone marrow registrants to SheKnows in hopes of bringing in new donors.
At only five months of age, Guglielmo’s infant son, Giovanni, was stricken with a rare immune system disorder, NEMO, confirmed in 68 kids worldwide. Guglielmo has initiated an effort to fill the national bone marrow registry with as many donors as possible. Over the last year and a half his efforts have added more than 15,000 new donors, located ten life saving matches and inspired a papal blessing fro the Pope to Giovanni.
Giovanni was saved, but 6,000 others dying from leukemia, blood cancer and immune system disorders are looking for a life saving match every day. The Save Giovanni’s Friends website registers an average of 10 new donors a month. Guglielmo hopes that an information boost from SheKnows dispelling myths about bone marrow donation will bring a huge increase in donation registry numbers.
“We are trying to make our readers aware of the importance of bone marrow donation,” explained Tony Pagliocco, Director of Technology for SheKnows, who has followed the Giovanni movement since it became public. “We want this to be a one-stop center for people looking for information.” SheKnows attracts over 12 million unique visitors with over 100 million page views each month.
Those who want to register will simply provide their mailing information through online registration at SheKnows. The easy sign-up process involves a one-page application and two cotton swabs that one rubs inside the cheeks of the mouth. Guglielmo will issue the swabs, a lab will test them, and DKMS Americas will add the new donor to the registry.
DKMS is the largest donor center, with over 1.7 million registered donors, and has facilitated over 14,000 transplants. While most registries charge $55 to $65 for a test kit, DKMS Americas is the only nonprofit in the country that does not require any fee. They welcome donations to help cover the costs.
“The potential for saving a life is staggering. What I rally want people to do is recognize that becoming a bone marrow donor is no longer a painful process,” Guglielmo says. “If you are a match at some point, 80 percent of the cases involve a procedure similar to giving blood and it involves no pain.”
(Pictured: Baby Giovanni at only five months of age, fighting the rare immune system disorder, NEMO, confirmed in 68 kids worldwide. Leading Women’s online destination, SheKnows.com, pledges to add 50,000 donors to the International Bone Marrow Registry by next year.)
About SheKnows:
SheKnows.com is the authoritative source for women ages 25-54, with exclusive articles and content on pregnancy, parenting, health, hobbies, entertainment, money, dating, beauty and celebrities. The site also serves as the demographic/psychographic hub for a family of other female-centric web properties. As one of the fastest growing destinations on the web with sites like soaps.com, lovingyou.com, pregnancyandbaby.com, fabulousfoods.com, childfun.com, and familycorner.com, SheKnows is currently one of the top 10 properties for women and attracts over 16 million unique visitors with over 100 million page views each month. Unlike online-distributed networks that merely aggregate disparate unrelated websites, SheKnows is a legitimate branded destination which owns most and manages all of its sub-properties. For advertisers, opportunities for sponsorship and creative integration go beyond the banner and make marketing messages an uninterrupted part of the user experience. Founded in 1999, the company is based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York and Chicago. SheKnows is part of AtomicOnline, a diversified online media company.
