Northern Michigan College students, faculty, and staff will have a unique opportunity to become lifesavers on Wednesday, February 8, when the college is hosting a “Be The Match” marrow donor registry drive from Noon to 6 p.m. in the lower level of West Hall on NMC’s campus. Staff from Michigan Blood’s Marrow/Stem Cell program, which is affiliated with the Be The Match Registry of the National Marrow Donor Program, will conduct the special donor registry drive.
Any person between the ages of 18 and 60 years old may be eligible to become a prospective marrow donor. Donors will be asked to fill out a form for contact information, provide a brief health history, and then provide a
blood sample for tissue-typing, which is required for all prospective donors. To encourage students to join the Registry at the Northern Michigan College drive, Michigan Blood will
waive the $25 fee that prospective donors normally are asked to pay to help cover the costs of tissue-type testing.
“Donors between the ages of 18 and 44 are ten times more likely to be chosen as matches for patients who need transplants,” said Kona Kenny, Be the Match representative at Michigan Blood. “These donors generally have
more active stem cells and their donations are more likely to be accepted by the patient’s body. We want to educate young people about the need for marrow donors, and also provide special opportunities, such as this event at Northern Michigan College, for them to join the Registry.”
Each year approximately 35,000 Americans are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia or any of 60 other life-threatening diseases that potentially can be treated with marrow transplants. Of that number, about 10,000 become transplant candidates but only about half are able to receive the possibly lifesaving procedures – and fewer than 1,000 are likely to have a family member who can provide a close tissue-type match. The Be The Match Registry helps meet the need for unrelated marrow donors by providing an international database of prospective donors.
Learn more about marrow donation
For more details visit www.miblood.org.