Low turnout at Friday's bone marrow registration drive
Kathleen Given
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News
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According to the NMDP, marrow transplant is a "life-saving treatment for people with leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases." While some patients find donors within their families, 70 percent are forced to find unrelated donors who have suitable tissue matches.
Cora-Lee Picone '11, chair of both the blood drive and the bone marrow drive, worked with Betty Kelly, an account executive for the NMDP, to organize the event. They hoped that there had been enough advertising to get at least 60 new registrations. "I do hope people feel comfortable getting involved," said Picone. Still, the final turnout was only 36.
Picone explained there are several misconceptions about the drive that keep people away; these include the necessity of scheduling appointments and hesitation over the misconception that a drive actually involves taking bone marrow.
The process is, in fact, quite quick and painless. "It's just a cheek swab," said Picone.
Once in the database, donors can be contacted if they are found to be a match, but Kelly cited such an occurrence as a "1 in 250,000 chance."
Students attending the drive voiced similar opinions about the importance of getting into the registry. When asked why she had volunteered, Sara Sirois '11 replied, "It sounds dorky, but it saves lives and there's no reason not to." She said that if she were to be contacted as a match, she would definitely donate.
Celine Croft '12 liked "the idea of people helping people. This is really important." She told the story of a girl she knew in high school who had leukemia - a real-life example that emphasized the importance of the registration drive.
Kelly described college campuses as the ideal location for holding a bone marrow drive because college students are young and healthy, and more importantly, "diverse donors is what we're really all about." Race and ethnicity greatly affect the likelihood of tissue types matching, but out of the 7 million potential donors in the database, only about 300,000 are black, 200,000 are Asian, and there are so few Native Americans that patients of that race usually do not find a match.
Picone said the CSO and the NMDP are hoping to merge another bone marrow drive with the next blood drive in February. Kelly stressed the importance of registration. "If you have cancer that needs to be cured, you hope that somebody, somewhere in the world can help you," she said.
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