NAKland

Nu Alpha Kappa, Inc. fraternity looks forward to bringing the “NAKLand Children’s Carnival” to our communities each year. The festival is open to the public at no charge while Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. simultaneously hosts a National Bone Marrow Drive Registry. The carnival celebrates “El Dia de Los Niños” (Children’s Day) and hosts a variety of inflatable jumpers such as: Big Glove Boxing Arena, Inflatable Jousting Pedestal, Inflatable Obstacle Course, Giant Scramble Slides, at least Four Carnival Game booths giving out prizes, plus several small games with rewards.

Blood Stem Cell Donor Registry Program

Mission Statement

Every three to four minutes someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer. A blood stem cell transplant can cure or treat more than 75 diseases, including blood cancers like leukemia and other blood disorders like sickle cell.

As a leader in cell therapy, NMDP^SM connects thousands of patients every year with a matching donor for the chance at a life-saving transplant.

Together, NMDP and Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. Initiative are creating a world where blood cancer and other rare diseases are a thing of the past, and we need the help of the Hispanic/Latino community to fuel the journey.

NMDP and Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. are dedicated to recruiting potential blood stem cell donors to the NMDP Registry^SM and are committed to serving our cultural diversity. NMDP and Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. aspire to set a standard of excellence nationwide that rewards our transplant recipients, blood stem cell donors, volunteers, and communities.

This Hispanic/Latino Stem Cell and Marrow Initiative focuses efforts throughout California, Colorado, and Nevada with 92 NMDP donor centers and 10 recruitment groups, and 22 Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. Chapters

National Marrow Donor Program ® – History

The National Marrow Donor Program ® (NMDP), created in 1986, is a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that facilitates unrelated donor stem cell transplants for patients with life-threatening blood diseases who do not have matching donors in their families. Currently, the NMDP ® facilitates more than 100 transplants each month. The NMDP ® provides a single point of access for all sources of blood stem cells used in transplantation: marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood. The Registry is able to search its own database and provide physicians with information on multiple stem cell sources for life-saving transplants.

Hispanic/Latino Need

Cancers and other diseases do not discriminate—they affect people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, often with very little warning.

70% of patients needing a blood stem cell transplant don’t have a fully matched donor in their family. They depend on NMDP to find an unrelated donor—a selfless stranger who can step up and donate their healthy blood stem cells—for the chance at receiving a life-saving transplant.

Matching donors and patients has a genetic component; the best match for a patient is typically someone who shares their ethnic background. Because of the makeup of the registry, though, not all patients have the same chance of finding a match.

About 40% of potential donors on the NMDP Registry are ethnically diverse. However, the registry is not diverse enough to ensure every patient finds a match.

More Hispanic and Latino donors are needed to help Hispanic and Latino patients.

Hispanic/Latino Stem Cell and Marrow Initiative

NMDP and Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. vigorously supports campaigns and outreach initiatives to expand the pool of unrelated stem cell and marrow donors of minority heritage in order to improve the chances of minority patients finding matched unrelated donors. The Hispanic/Latino Stem Cell and Marrow Initiative is a program designed to reach out to the Hispanic/Latino communities.