GenCure Marrow Donor Program to Partner with Students Across Central and South Texas to Save Lives
San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) October 08, 2015 -- Working in conjunction with a wide range of student organizations, the GenCure Marrow Donor Program will be registering potential stem cell/bone marrow donors at college campuses from Austin to Brownsville this academic year.
The program will be seeking people between the ages of 18 and 44 for the Be The Match registry. Be The Match is America’s bone marrow registry.
Registration is simply a matter of filling out a form and providing a cheek swab, and it typically takes less than 10 minutes.
Drives are scheduled for:
• October: Texas A&M International University, Laredo and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
• November: The University of Texas at Brownsville
• February: Texas A&M University-Kingsville
• March: The University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas State University
• April: The University of Texas at Austin
Every year, more than 14,000 patients in this country need a marrow transplant as part of treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other disorders.
Unfortunately, 70 percent of those who need a marrow transplant do not have a matching donor in the family. So the more donors on the registry, the better the chance those patients have of finding a match.
The requirements for joining the registry are simple. Donors will need to:
• Meet some health guidelines and be between the ages of 18 and 44
• Be willing to donate to any patient in need, until age 61
• Agree to keep their contact information current
The need is especially urgent for people of ethnically diverse backgrounds, since patients are more likely to match someone of their own racial and/or ethnic background.
More information about marrow donation is available at GenCure.org/be-matchnmdp and at BeTheMatch.org.
David King, BioBridge Global and Subsidiaries, http://www.biobridgeglobal.org, +1 210-731-5522, [email protected]
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