Chilean blood has traveled the world, saving lives.
One person diagnosed with blood cancer every 27 seconds globally; Chile sees 4,000 annual cases including 300 children under 15. DKMS Chile has registered 330,000+ donors and facilitated 740+ transplants internationally; genetic compatibility linked to ethnic origin.
- One person diagnosed with blood cancer every 27 seconds globally
- Chile: ~4,000 annual diagnoses, including 300 children under 15
- DKMS Chile: 330,000+ registered donors, 740+ transplants facilitated
- Deaths from blood cancers in Chile rose from 2,000 (2020) to 2,233 (2025)
- FALP opened 20+ clinical trials in hematology since 2022, benefiting 100+ patients
DKMS Foundation and Metro Chile launch awareness campaign for World Blood Cancer Day, promoting bone marrow donor registration. Chile diagnoses ~4,000 blood cancer cases annually, with clinical trials expanding treatment access.
Every 27 seconds, somewhere on Earth, a doctor tells someone they have blood cancer. The diagnosis arrives without warning—leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma—diseases that remake a person's body and future in an instant. In Chile alone, roughly 4,000 people receive this news each year. About 300 of them are children under 15.
On May 28th, World Blood Cancer Day, the DKMS Foundation and Metro launched a campaign to make this invisible crisis visible. They created a special edition of the Bip! transit card—the plastic ticket millions of Chileans touch every day—as a small vessel for a larger message: you might be someone's genetic match. You might be the difference between life and death.
The mechanics are straightforward. Blood cancers often require a bone marrow transplant, and finding a compatible donor is like searching for a genetic twin. Compatibility follows ethnic lines, which is why DKMS arrived in Chile in early 2018 with a specific mission: to build a registry of Latin American donors, increasing the odds that Hispanic patients would find their match. The organization asks for little—you must be between 18 and 55, live in Chile, and be in good health. Registration happens online at www.dkms.cl.
The numbers suggest the effort is working. DKMS Chile now has more than 330,000 registered donors. Those donors have enabled more than 740 transplants, not just for Chileans but for patients across Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Germany, and a dozen other countries. Chilean blood has traveled the world. But the foundation's ambition extends beyond donor registration—it aims to ensure that every blood cancer patient in Chile can access a transplant when they need one.
That goal has become more urgent. Deaths from leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma in Chile climbed from 2,000 in 2020 to 2,233 in 2025, according to preliminary figures from the Health Ministry's statistics department. The trend is rising, and the burden is real.
Yet there is a counterweight. Clinical trials have begun opening new pathways. Immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and novel biological drugs have transformed the outlook for many blood cancer patients, improving both survival and quality of life. The problem is cost. These innovations remain expensive, placing them beyond reach for many families. This is where clinical research becomes a lifeline. Since 2022, the Arturo López Pérez Foundation has launched more than 20 hematology trials, enrolling over 100 patients with multiple myeloma, leukemias, and various lymphomas. Dr. Raimundo Gazitúa, a hematologist and subdirector of hematology at the foundation, explained that access to these trials allows patients with complex diseases to receive therapies that may not yet be widely available. For blood cancers especially, where disease can return and demand new treatment lines, this access can be the difference between limited options and hope.
The campaign is modest in appearance—a transit card, a registration website, a day of awareness. But it rests on a hard truth: blood cancer is not rare, it is not distant, and it does not wait. Every 27 seconds, someone's life changes. In Chile, that someone could be your neighbor, your colleague, your child. The question DKMS and Metro are asking is whether you might be their answer.
Citas Notables
Access to clinical trials allows patients with complex diseases to receive therapies that may not yet be widely available, which is especially important for blood cancers that can return and require new treatment lines.— Dr. Raimundo Gazitúa, hematologist and subdirector of hematology at Arturo López Pérez Foundation
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does ethnic origin matter so much for bone marrow matching? It seems like it would be more random than that.
It's not random at all. The genetic markers that determine compatibility—the HLA proteins—vary by ancestry. A person of Latin American descent is statistically more likely to find a match among other Latin Americans. That's why DKMS came to Chile specifically. Without a registry that reflects the local population, patients wait longer or don't find anyone at all.
So by registering, someone isn't just helping a stranger—they're helping someone from their own community.
Exactly. And it works both ways. The more Chilean donors register, the better the odds for Chilean patients. But those 740 transplants show that compatible matches can cross borders. A Chilean donor might save someone in Germany. A Spanish donor might save a Chilean child.
The death numbers went up significantly between 2020 and 2025. Is that because more people are getting cancer, or because fewer are surviving?
The source doesn't separate those causes, but both could be true. Diagnosis rates are steady at around 4,000 a year. The rise in deaths could reflect delayed treatment, limited access to new therapies, or simply that the disease is progressing in people who can't afford the innovations that exist.
Clinical trials sound like they're filling a gap that the regular health system can't.
They are. When a drug costs too much for the public system to cover, a trial offers access for free. Over 100 patients have gotten therapies through FALP's trials that they wouldn't have otherwise. But trials are finite—they enroll a limited number of people. It's a solution, but not a complete one.
What happens to someone who doesn't find a match and can't access a trial?
That's the hard question the campaign doesn't answer. They either pursue private treatment if they can afford it, or their options narrow. That's why the foundation says its real goal is ensuring every blood cancer patient can access a transplant when they need one. We're not there yet.