On Thursday, Feb. 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the LSC Mall area, there will be a Marrow Door Registry Drive titled “Are You My Type?” hosted by the Student Government Association.
A marrow transplant can cure a person of diseases like leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and others. While everyone is needed, Registered Donors are severely needed from the minority community. Out of seven million donors on the National Registry, only two percent of Asian-Americans, ten percent of Hispanic-Americans, and eight percent of African-Americans are in the Registry.
In order to find a matching donor for any minority, increasing the number of registered donors within minority communities is crucial. A patient finds a lifesaving marrow match within within his/her family only 25% of the time, and because tissue types are inherited like hair or eye color, patients are more likely to match donors of their own racial or ethnic community.
Donors must be between the ages of 18-60, have a driver’s license or I.D., and have two addresses of relatives who do not live with them. A person cannot donate if he/she has HIV, ,a blood disorder, or heart disease history. At the drive, people are simply signing up to see if they are eligible to donate by completing a consent form and giving a cheek cell swab sample. There will also be prizes given to those who sign up, but the organization asks that donors be committed to doing it.