World Blood Cancer Day: 12 Years of W:O:A & DKMS

“You are the best cure against blood cancer.”

That is this year’s motto for World Blood Cancer Day — and it perfectly reflects the shared mission of W:O:A and DKMS.
Since 2014, the team around Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen, together with the Wacken community, has supported DKMS and blood cancer patients around the world.

The reason behind this commitment was the illness of Melissa, daughter of longtime Wacken production manager Thomas Hess, who sadly passed away in 2018.
Since then, the DKMS action booth has been part of the Wacken Foundation Camp during the festival. There, visitors can register as potential stem cell donors with a simple cheek swab. Healthy people between the ages of 17 and 55 can join the donor registry directly on the Holy Ground.

And the numbers show how important this really is:
* More than 13,000 Metalheads have already registered as potential donors
* 105 of them have gone on to donate stem cells
* Together, they’ve given new hope to patients in 27 countries worldwide

But the need remains urgent. This year alone, around 160,000 registered donors will age out of the DKMS database. At the same time, demand continues to rise: in Germany, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every 12 minutes — worldwide, every 27 seconds. 

Want to register and maybe give someone a second chance at life?
You can do so directly at Wacken Open Air or year-round at dkms.de/wacken.
Open your mouth, swab in — become a donor!

See you in Wacken — Register and Shine!

Your W:O:A – Team