The College of Wooster is among the latest college football teams to join forces with Be The Match and get in the game with a blood stem cell registry drive. Wooster’s drive will take place on Friday, April 28 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. inside the Lowry Student Center at the student tabling tables.
Hundreds of college athletic teams have registered thousands of their team members, peers, and local community members for the Be The Match Registry. Wooster football players will run tables to assist students, faculty, staff, and local community members with their Be The Match process, which includes a registration, filling out a health history form, and providing a swab inside your cheek. The registry drive is open to people ages 18 to 40 years old, and the event is open to the local community.
More young people of diverse racial and ethnic heritage are needed to help patients searching for a match. People between the ages of 18 and 35 are most urgently needed since they are requested by transplant doctors most often, and research shows that these donors provide the greatest chance for transplant success.
Every year, 12,000 patients are diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers or other diseases like sickle cell, for which a blood stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor may be their best or only hope for a cure. Be The Match connects patients with a matching donor for a life-saving blood stem cell transplant. A blood stem cell transplant can cure or treat more than 75 difference diseases, including leukemia and lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and sickle cell and immune-deficiency disorders. Be The Match has facilitated more than 120,000 transplants since 1987 and continues to impact more lives every year. Be The Match is a global leader in bone marrow transplantation and conducts research to improve transplant outcomes, provides support and resources for patients, and partners with a global network.
“Football teams, especially small college teams within Ohio, can help effectively communicate signing up for Be The Match,” added junior defensive back Andrew Armile, who is helping spearhead Wooster’s registry event. “Through community involvement and with the large number of football programs in the country, we can help by spreading the important message of registering for blood and marrow donations and hopefully save lives.”
Those unable to make Wooster’s football team’s registry drive can join the Be The Match donor registry online, order a free cheek swab kit from Be The Match, and return it to the organization.