“Literally, a lifesav-ING partnership”

Blood cancer charity, DKMS UK, is delighted to announce that it has been selected by ING in the UK as their charity partner for the next two years.

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Having a stem cell transplant is often the only or final treatment option for blood cancer patients, in fact, each year more than 2,000 people need to find a matching donor.

Each person’s genetic makeup is unique, so the chances of finding a perfect match can be one in a million. Only 25% of patients with blood cancer find a match with a relative. 72% of patients find their best possible match with a stranger, however, this reduces to 37% if you are a patient from a black or ethnic minority background.

DKMS UK, part of a global group, registers blood stem cell donors in the UK, and supports them to donate their stem cells to blood cancer patients in need of a life-saving transplant. Currently, just three percent of the UK population are registered as potential donors and only 13% of these are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.

The partnership will enable all ING employees to support DKMS’ lifesaving work in multiple ways from joining the UK stem cell register to taking part in fundraising initiatives and helping to raise awareness of the need to register more potential lifesavers. DKMS can thus facilitate more lifesaving transplants to give patients a second chance at life. Additionally, DKMS will celebrate registering its 1 millionth donor, a milestone event in this special 10th anniversary year since launching in the UK in 2013, making this partnership even more meaningful!

Olive Yu, Director at ING in the UK, knows only too well how important it can be to find a matching stem cell donor. Her young daughter received a cord blood transplant in 2020 and is now a healthy girl enjoying a carefree childhood. She said:

“ING is proud to partner and support DKMS in its groundbreaking vital work. The charity was there for my family at a time when we were unsure what the future held. When your child is sick you feel so helpless and hopeless. However, working with DKMS we held public registration events to increase the pool of potential stem cell donors and helped to raise aware of stem cell donation. It gave us something positive to focus our energy on. If it were not for the work that DKMS does, the result for us and many thousands of families from ethnic minority groups around the world would be very different. My wish for the future would be that over 50% of those from an ethnic minority and cross-heritage group are registered on the DKMS donor list”

DKMS’ Head of Fundraising, Caroline Richardson reflected on the partnership:

“DKMS is absolutely delighted to have been chosen by ING in the UK as their charity partner as we share many values. We both put people at the heart of what we do and share a commitment to make things happen. 2023 is a special year for DKMS as we celebrate our 10th anniversary and register our one-millionth donor and ING will be integral to that. As their chosen partner and we are really looking forward to working with ING during the next two years on some exciting projects with some ambitious targets. We want to raise much-needed funds to enable us to continue giving lifesaving transplants to patients here in the UK and globally. By supporting DKMS as a stem cell or money donor, each person is giving affected families hope. What better way to celebrate our 10th birthday than with a, literally, lifesav- ING partnership.”

If you are aged between 17 – 55 and in general good health take the first step to register as a blood stem cell donor by registering for your home swab kit at www.dkms.org.uk. It costs us £40 to register just one potential blood stem cell donor. While many of our supporters contribute towards the cost of their registration, not all are able to do so. Any funds you can donate, no matter the size, can make a huge difference and help to give blood cancer patients a second chance at life!

Contact

For further information please contact Reshna Radiven, Head of Communications and Engagement on 020 8747 5647 or email reshna.radiven@dkms.org.uk

Notes to Editor

ING profile

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 58,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability forms an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks.
ING's ESG rating by MSCI was upgraded to 'AA' in December 2020. ING Group shares are included in major sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) index products of leading providers STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. In January 2021, ING received an ESG evaluation score of 83 ('strong') from S&P Global Ratings.

About DKMS

• DKMS is a global not-for-profit organisation that started in Germany in 1991 around one family’s search for a donor. Dr. Peter Harf founded DKMS in honour of his wife Mechtild, who had sadly lost her battle with blood cancer. Peter promised his wife to help every blood cancer patient searching for a matching donor.
• Today, DKMS operates in Germany, USA, Poland, Chile, India, South Africa and the UK.
• DKMS is dedicated to the fight against blood cancer through recruiting stem cell donors and providing second chances at life; creating awareness of blood disorders and raising funds to match donor registration costs.
• To date, DKMS has registered over 11 million potential blood stem cell donors worldwide. Over 100,000 people around the world have received a potentially lifesaving blood stem cell donation through DKMS.
• In the UK, DKMS has registered over 960,000 blood stem cell donors to date and helped to give over 1,900 people a second chance at life.
• DKMS launched in the UK in 2013. DKMS is the trading name of DKMS Foundation, a registered charity in England and Wales (1150056) and Scotland (SC046917). DKMS is a limited company registered in England and Wales (08151279).

Blood stem cell donation

• To be considered a match, the donor and patient must share similar tissue characteristics.
• If you match with someone who needs a blood stem cell donation, the two methods through which blood stem cells are collected are either: a donation of peripheral stem cells collected via the blood stream (around 90 per cent of donations are made this way) or a donation of bone marrow collected from the back of the pelvic bone.
• Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma (Cancer Research UK, 2014).
• At any one time, there are around 2,000 people in the UK in need of a blood stem cell transplant.