When Katharina Harf of DKMS, the world’s largest bone marrow registry, was recently counseling a family whose son needs a bone marrow transplant to save his young life, she fully understood their fears and their pain — because she’s been there herself.
When Harf was only 13, her mother, Mechtild — who had previously beaten breast cancer — was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia. “It was our worst nightmare,” Harf tells Tonic. “I knew that our lives would change forever.”
Her father told her and her sister that their mother “could win this battle, but it was going to be hard,” says Harf.
Harder than they ever thought possible. When chemotherapy treatments failed, doctors told the family that a bone marrow transplant was Mechtild’s only hope for survival. But that was nearly impossible, since there were only 3,000 donors in Germany, where the family lived.
Unable to accept that there were so few donors, her father, Peter Harf, the chairman of Coty, Inc., started his own donor center. “He said, ‘I am going to move mountains to save her life — and the lives of others,’” says Harf.
And he did. In 1991, Harf founded DKMS (which stands for bone marrow center in German), recruiting 68,000 donors the first year, with Katharina and her sister, Viktoria, helping him hold drives for her. Despite their efforts, Mechtild lost her battle in 1991. “My world was shattered,” says Harf. “I felt like a part of me had just died.”
Moving More Mountains
Losing his wife to leukemia didn’t stop Peter from fighting for other cancer victims. “After having done everything in his power to save my mother, my father said right away that we still needed to save other people’s lives — for her,” says Harf. “My mother had told him that if things didn’t work out for her, she wanted him to continue saving lives.”
While Harf’s father continued to build up DKMS’s donor database, which now has more than 2.5 million donors, Harf moved to the United States with her family and graduated from Harvard University.
Over the years, her father had talked about wanting to start a donor center in the US. “I didn’t want anything to do with it then,” says Harf. “It was way too painful.”
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that her life’s mission was to help others find donors. “Sometimes the most obvious thing is right in front of you, but you don’t see it,” she says. “At some point, you get over the pain and turn that pain into something that can really help people. I thought, ‘I could do this. I could make a difference.’”
Taking Wing
Indeed, in just six short years, she’s moved mountains herself. With her father’s guidance, they founded DKMS Americas in 2004 — with the help of one other person. “We started with nothing,” she says. “We had a lot to learn.”
Building up the donor center took time. “The first year was challenging because no one in the US knew us,” she says. “We held a drive for a young mother and only got a few hundred donors. It was so frustrating because all we wanted to do was help save lives, but it was so hard to do that.”
They persevered, and started getting more recognition. DKMS got a huge boost when Rihanna appealed to the public in 2008 on PEOPLE.com to help Manhattan mom Lisa Flynn find a donor, helping to bring in more than 5,000 donors. In 2009, Rihanna came forward again on PEOPLE.com to help find a donor for then-five-year-old Jasmina Anema, which led other celebrities to help. “Rihanna has helped us so much,” says Harf. “We are incredibly grateful to her.”
Jasmina received a transplant but succumbed to the disease a year later. Even President Obama issued a statement of condolence when she died.
In June, Rihanna and Alicia Keys rallied to help recruit donors for Shannon Tavarez, the young star of Broadway’s The Lion King, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
Other celebrities including Benicio del Toro, Jackie Chan, Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Herzigova, Halle Berry and most recently 50 Cent, have helped DKMS recruit thousands more bone marrow donors. “I am so grateful to all of them, since DKMS needs their voices to win the fight against leukemia. I hope many more will join our cause.”
Since 2007, DKMS and Coty have hosted glittering fundraisers in Manhattan, with performances by Rihanna, Natasha Bedingfield and Jon Bon Jovi. This year’s Linked Against Leukemia gala raised a record $1.8 million for DKMS, which will use the funds to help register 19,000 bone marrow donors and help save patients with leukemia and other cancer-related blood disorders. More than 22,000 DKMS donors have helped save lives by donating their marrow.
Six-year-old Kenzie Grant meets Magda Boyson, who gave her a life-saving bone marrow transplant, at DKMS’ 2008 Linked Against Leukemia Gala in New York City.
Even with such star wattage, the highlight of the galas is the “Moment of the Match,” when a leukemia patient and donor meet for the first time. The 2008 gala featured the first Moment of the Match, when Harf introduced six-year-old Kenzie Grant to her donor, Magda Boyson. “To see the two of them meet each other was one of the greatest moments of my life,” says Harf.
More Donors Needed
Since 2006, when Harf held her first bone marrow drive, DKMS has become one of the largest bone marrow donor centers in the US. Last year, DKMS recruited 70,000 new donors. “That will help save so many lives,” says Harf. “Recruiting new donors is still a priority for us and something we’re still struggling with today,” says Harf. “A lot of lives are lost because we don’t have enough donors.”
Harf would love Tonic readers to join her in her fight. Becoming a donor is as easy as getting a cheek swab. If the marrow is a match, donors undergo minor outpatient surgery or have healthy stem cells extracted via the bloodstream to replace the patient’s unhealthy cells. “Thousands of patients still need matches,” says Harf. “Seventy percent of patients depend on a complete stranger to give them a second chance at life. A stranger like you can help save someone’s life. Tomorrow, a stranger might help save you or someone you love.”
For more information, please visit www.getswabbed.org.
Photos of Rihanna, Isabelle Huurman and Katharina Harf at DKMS’ 2009 gala in New York City, where Huurman was honored for recruiting donors for her best friend, Jasmina Anema; Harf, Halle Berry and Coty CEO Bernd Beetz at the 2010 gala; and Kenzie Grant and Magda Boyson at the 2008 gala, courtesy of DKMS.