Trust Teina
Trust Teina is a charitable trust with a vision to save Māori and Pasifika lives through increasing the bone marrow and organ donor registers in New Zealand.
Trust Teina, this trust was formed in 2017 after we lost their son Teina Terei to his battle with Acute Myloid Leukaemia. It was highlighted to us that there is a desperate need for more Māori and Pasifika to register to the Bone Marrow Registry along with becoming a blood donor. Māori and Pasifika numbers are very low when it comes to donating either.
Some scary stats for us with Māori and Pasifika lineage who require a bone marrow transplant, you would fall into a pool of between 6,000 - 10,000 to choose from for a Bone Marrow match, but if you are of any other lineage you would have around 20 million worldwide donors to choose from. When it comes to bone marrow this is matched to ethnicities and although Trust Teina has found that while Māori and Pasifika and other ethnicities are happy to receive blood when needed, Māori and Pasifika are by far underrepresented as donors. So, Trust Teina has been working hard in this area to make changes. NZ Blood Services have struggled to reach Māori and Pasifika to come forward and donate regularly. The trust's goal is to grow the number of donors and to bring light to this kaupapa. Trust Teina is working collaboratively with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Tau Ora team and NZ Blood Services to help educate and inform our whānau around the importance of becoming a donor.