Delete Blood Cancer DKMS began with one family’s search for a bone marrow donor. In 1990, Peter Harf and his daughters went door-to-door in an effort to find a donor match for his wife and their mother, Mechtild Harf. They registered 68,000 donors in just one year. Sadly, Mechtild lost her battle, but in her honor, the Harfs started a bone marrow donor center (DKMS) that has since grown to be the world’s largest. We have branches in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Poland and Spain. Globally, we have registered over 5 million donors and provided more than 47,000 patients with second chances at life.