“Join us, register and become a donor!”

Every year around 93,500 children under the age of 15 worldwide are diagnosed with blood cancer, 700 of them in Germany. This makes blood cancer the most common type of cancer in children. So for many sick children, a stem cell donation is the last chance of survival.

That includes Taio, who is now four years old. The little Leipziger suffers from aplastic anemia and was urgently looking for a donor match last year –– and fortunately found one and received the stem cell donation.

Six months after the stem cell transplant, Taio can run around with his siblings again, climb like his superhero Spider-Man, and discover more of the world day by day and enjoy his life. Taio’s dad Forbene is simply grateful for the amount of support the family received during this time:

“The great willingness of people to help helped us get through the difficult time and not to lose hope of finding a suitable donor,” he says.

His story inspired our captain Willi Orban, who had just answered the call to give himself. He had to miss the Bundesliga game against Union Berlin in February 2023 due to recovery from a stem cell donation. All because he wanted to give a stranger somewhere in the world a second chance at life.

But he says he’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving another life as a stem cell donor. “There were a few days where I had to slow down a bit,” Willi says. “It was definitely worth it for the good cause and that’s why I would do it again and again.”.

That’s why Willi Orban, RB Leipzig and the DKMS are once again drawing attention to World Childhood Cancer Day this year. Together we can beat blood cancer.

Join now!