Many students showed up at the Union Ballroom Wednesday to register as bone marrow donors, but the turnout wasn’t as good as some had hoped.
“We were hoping for more, but today was not a failure by any means. We hit a goal of 100, but were prepared to handle up to five,” said Jennifer Shaub, project organizer.
Registered marrow donors are part of an effort to give patients with life-threatening blood diseases a second chance. More than 30,000 people per year are diagnosed with a disease for which marrow/stem cell transplants are the last hope for a cure. Only 30 percent of patients will find a matched donor in their family. The other 70 percent must search for an unrelated donor.
James Owen, a sophomore majoring in mining engineering, registered and said, “I’m a donor because life is the most precious gift you can give.”
The odds of a patient finding a match vary widely, depending on the rarity of the donor’s tissue type. This means that volunteers may never be called. However, if identified as a match, the volunteer may be the only person who can provide life-saving stem cells to patients in need.
“A person signing up today might be a match for someone looking right now or somebody that gets a disease like Leukemia 10 years from now,” Shaub said. Visiting a college campus was a first for the Gregg Schaub Donor Foundation.
“We are just starting out. There is nothing like this in all of Utah. We plan on going up to Logan and down to Provo,” Shaub said.
There is a critical need for more and more bone marrow donors, especially from minority donors. Those who missed out and would like to help in anyway can contact the Gregg Schaub Donor Foundation at www.gsdonorfoundation.org.