WHAT WE DO
Your illness is a journey - one that, at times, will be unbearably difficult for both you and the people who love you. Become My Hero understands this. We'll form a close relationship with you and do everything we can to make your story known to people who can help. This may be done by creating brochures, videos, newspaper articles, even billboards. We do whatever it takes to make your story known and get the word out that you need help today if you are to have hope tomorrow. There is power in numbers and our intention is to let everyone know who you are, what you need, why you need it and how they could help.
We do this in three ways. Our relationship begins by introducing you to our Facebook group - the World's Largest Cord Blood Donor Recruiter Network. Our motivated donor recruiter community is powered by a passion to help people, social networking and Twitter. We provide these recruiters with professionally prepared materials that focus on your specific needs and a financial incentive to find you donors.
Next, we know that your life depends on finding a donor for YOU and not someone else. So we'll ask you a series of questions about yourself, your parents and their parents. We then work with your transplant physician and the NMDP to compare your ancestry and HLA haplotypes in relationship to different races, ethnic groups and geographic locations. We use this information to better pinpoint where we will find people of similar ethnicity, race, caste and practices. This allows us to determine where the type of donors you need are likely to be found and who they will most likely be.
We then create a brochure that tells your story and explains who will be the best stem cell match for you. Armed with this information, your recruiters give your brochures to hundreds of pregnant women they believe are having babies that could be your match. Your brochures tell potential donors how the simple act of donating their baby's cord blood could save your life.
Finally, we use non-evasive tests to determine if the yet-to-be-born baby's cord blood matches you. The cord blood is then collected and stored until it is needed for your transplant.
