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3/11/2010
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Click Here For "Be The Match" Challenge Flyer
Click Here For Myths and Facts about Marrow Donation
Click Here For National Marrow Donor Program, Key Messages, Facts & Figures
To help facilitate matches for those in need of bone marrow transplants, Northeast Conference field hockey coaches and their teams have organized a "Be The Match" Challenge. This donor drive is taking place throughout March and April at member campuses. A summary of the drives will be posted at the conclusion of the Challenge.
The national "Be The Match" Registry services patients in need of a marrow transplant that do not have a matching donor in their family. These patients need to find a matching unrelated donor that is willing to donate stem cells on their behalf.
To join the registry, one must be between the ages of 18 and 60, be willing to donate to any patient in need, and meet health guidelines.
Below is a list of the scheduled drives:
Quinnipiac University
March 4th
Contact: Becca Main at
Siena College
March 17th
Contact: Kaitlyn Skelley at kskelley@siena.edu
Sacred Heart University
March 23rd
Contact: Chris Blais blaisc@sacredheart.edu
Bryant University
March 31st
Contact: Shaunessy Saucier at ssaucie1@bryant.edu
Robert Morris University
TBA
Contact: Olivia Netzler at Netzler@rmu.edu
Saint Francis (PA) University
April 13, 15 and 17th
Contact: Stacey Bean at sbean@francis.edu
Information Regarding the "Be The Match" Marrow Registry
Who does "Be The Match" service?
"Be The Match" helps the 10,000 patients a year that suffer from leukemia, lymphoma or a variety of bone marrow functioning diseases that need a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. Only 30% of patients in need of a bone marrow transplant have a matching donor in their family.
What is bone marrow?
Bone marrow is the soft tissue inside of the bones that produces all of the body’s blood cells. When a donation takes place, we are targeting the blood stem cells that the bone marrow produces. Blood stem cells are blood cells in their infancy; they have not become a red cell, platelet or white cell yet.
How does someone register?
A consent form is filled out consisting of basic contact information, alternate contact information and some medical evaluation questions. A cheek swab sample is then given from the inside of the mouth. If the donor has health insurance from RI, MA or NH, the donor’s insurance information is taken at the time of registration. RI, MA & NH have all passed state legislation requiring health insurance companies in those states to cover the cost of the HLA typing. If a donor has insurance from a different state or does not have insurance, our sponsor covers the HLA typing cost.
From the cheek swab samples, a lab in MN performs HLA typing and the donor’s HLA typing is posted on the "Be The Match" Registry. The donor is contacted if they ever look like a potential match for a patient in need.
What happens if someone is a potential match?
At that time a blood sample is taken and a series of health history questions are asked. The blood sample then gets sent to the transplant center where the patient is receiving their treatment. Further HLA typing is done and it is determined from the blood sample whether or not the donor is the best match for the patient.
How does a donor donate?
A. 80% of the time donors donate peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). This is a non-surgical, out-patient procedure. The donor receives an injection daily for 5 days of a drug that increases the number of blood stem cells in the blood stream. On the 5th day, the donor’s blood is removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood stem cells. The remaining blood is returned to the donor in the other arm.
B. 20% of the time donors donate through a surgical procedure which is usually an out-patient procedure. The donor is under anesthesia and the doctor uses a needle & syringe to withdraw the blood stem cells from the back of the pelvic bone.
**Donors do have a say as to which method they prefer donating by.
