Did you know…?

Every year more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with leukemia or other blood-born illnesses for which a marrow tranplsant is considered to be the best therapy.

For some of these patients a marrow transplant might not only be their best chance, it might be their only chance.

On any given day there are 3000 people searching the National Marrow Donor Registry for a match.

Only 30% of the patients requiring a marrow transplant find a match within their families.

What does all this mean?

It means that 70% of the people needing marrow for treatment must find their match outside their family, probably from a total stranger. That means I might save you or someone you know some day, or visa-versa.

Jess, in February.

Most marrow donor registration drives are set up when someone local needs the marrow. That’s what we did recently at the school where I work. The drive was a huge success in terms of the numbers of people coming—over 500! But I know the work is not done. We need as many people in the registry as possible. You see, for every person that registers, the odds increase for someone in need, including Jessica, the little girl in whose name we conducted the drive. (Learn about Jessica at www.dok.com.) So now we must figure out how to get more people to register. And maybe those people can get others, and so on.

Jess’s mom, Jess and me at the marrow drive on May 4.

This life-saving mission is so vitally important, and it is so easy to get involved. People need to register. That’s it. Go to your local donor center and register! Or, call your doctor to find out where and when you can register.

Registering only takes a half-hour.

To learn how to register, and what is involved, visit: http://marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html

Even better- Find a hospital that collects platelets and donate. Ask about registering as a marrow donor when you go.

Remember…

If you register, the odds can only get better.

Can you imagine if every potential donor were registered how good the odds would be?