Vancouver-area advocate Jeana Moore has completed her fifth “Steps-to-Marrow” walking journey, using her story and a QR code to encourage stem cell registry registration after her granddaughter’s acute myeloid leukemia treatment.
The Story
Jeana Moore, 73, says she began walking to raise awareness and expand sign-ups for stem cell registries after her granddaughter Jada was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and required a stem cell transplant to survive. Moore credits the survival of her granddaughter to a stem cell match found through international registry efforts, describing how searches were conducted across millions of potential donors before one compatible match was identified in Germany.
Moore created the Jada Bascom Foundation to turn her family’s experience into long-term public education and advocacy, and she has since logged more than 11,000 kilometres across multiple continents to encourage participation in stem cell registry initiatives. Her approach is designed to be practical for everyday passersby: she wears a QR code around her neck and carries it on her backpack while walking, directing people to resources related to donor registration and awareness.
Her most recent effort is part of a program she calls “Steps-to-Marrow,” and she recently crossed the Canada–U.S. border to mark what she describes as her fifth walking journey. Moore says the border crossing underscores the international nature of donor registries and the importance of joining a national registry, noting that she had known about bone marrow transplants before her granddaughter’s illness but did not grasp the urgency of registry participation until then.
Moore’s latest walk spans more than 570 kilometres over 45 days. The timeline reflects a sustained, repeat format rather than a single short campaign, with Moore framing each journey as an opportunity to connect with more people and broaden awareness about stem cell registration.
Canadian Blood Services Community Development Manager Eric Belden said Moore’s advocacy has already helped generate interest in stem cell registry sign-ups. On her fifth walk, Belden said more than 500 people clicked to find the stem cell registry in their country, emphasizing that the potential impact of each new registrant can extend to patients who may be waiting for a match at the time they register.
Moore and Belden’s statements highlight the core significance of registry matching in leukemia care, where compatible donors can be critical. Moore’s family story, paired with her on-the-ground walking and QR code-driven outreach, is presented as a direct bridge between public awareness and the action step of finding out how to sign up.
The shared message from Moore and Canadian Blood Services is that individual donors matter precisely because match needs are personal and unpredictable. “Each individual, you don’t know, you may be the perfect match for someone who’s waiting right now,” Belden said, situating Moore’s journeys within a broader effort to increase the pool of potential matches both in Canada and internationally.
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