What is the Red Shoe Run?
The Red Shoe Run for Donor Awareness is a competitive event to be held during National Donate Life Month as we honor donor and recipient families. This fund raising event serves to raise awareness of the critical need for organ, tissue, cornea, blood and bone marrow donors. There is a financial commitment involved when someone becomes a part of the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. The current cost of one tissue typing is $52. It takes just one special person to save a life! Each year we seek to raise money to help the Rock River Valley Blood Center Marrow Donor Program. The funds raised will cover the costs of tissue typing for prospective marrow donors.
Each year more than 35,000 people from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are diagnosed with life-threatening blood diseases. Many could be cured with a marrow or stem cell transplant, but they need matching donors.
The National Marrow Donor Program must continually recruit and test more donors. Despite the progress in Donor and cord blood recruitment made in 2007, that resulted in a 10% increase in overall transplants as well as a 50% increase in cord blood transplants, we are still no where near the need.
- The need in the USA is 3 times our current availability of donors
- And, 4-5 times our current availability of Asian donors
- And, 5-6 times our current availability of Hispanic donors
- And 9 times our current availability of African American donors
- Today only 2 out of 10 people who need a transplant will be transplanted. We need your help!
