Who We Are

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​Thanks Mom! Give Life is a Mother's Day event run by passionate community volunteers in partnership with Canadian Blood Services and BC Transplant. 

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Our goal is to recruit more ethnically diverse adult stem cell donors through cheek swabbing and registering with OneMatch (Canada's stem cell and bone marrow registry). We also aim to increase the number of blood donors in BC and encourage more Canadians to register as potential organ and tissue donors.

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Mothers have given us life, and we, in turn, can give life to others through:

 

• Blood donation (age 17+)

• Registering as a potential stem cell donor (age 17-35 only)

• Registering as a potential organ or tissue donor

 

This year when you celebrate your mom, do it in a unique way – give life on her behalf!

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The Beginning

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In 2002, a young American adoptee Kailee Wells was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia when she was 5 and required a stem cell transplant. Her parents, Owen & Linda and sister Taunya started stem cell donor recruitment campaigns (bone marrow drives) known as the Mother’s Day Drive. The first Mother's Day Drive campaigns were held in Albuquerque, Milwaukee and Dallas.

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The Wells family convinced the NMDP (USA National Marrow Donor Program) to hold annual Mother's Day Drive campaigns, which were renamed the Thanks Mom Donor Drive. With the amazing support of the NMDP through to 2008, these campaigns included 710 cities in 46 states, bringing in almost 43,000 new donors!

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There are various US bone marrow registration campaigns, including the Be the Match National Marrow Donor Program.

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In Canada

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Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins, BC MLA, held a Thanks Mom Donor Drive in May 2006 to bring awareness to Canadians, particularly in the ethnic communities. OneMatch (Canada's stem cell and bone marrow network) has a great need for new registrants with more diverse ethnic roots. Sadly in 2010, Sindi lost her battle with leukemia and passed away on September 21.

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A year later, the Thanks Mom campaign was resurrected in honour of her and all patients who lost their battles with blood cancers and other disorders. No matching stem cell donors were available for them.

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