Wakefield Elementary Hosts Marrow Registration Drive

Help save a life. On Oct. 25, Wakefield Elementary School is hosting a marrow donor registry drive to raise awareness about the need for marrow donors.

Potential donors can take the first step to save a life between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room. Registration requires paperwork and a cheek swab sample taken from the inside of the mouth. Most donations, if you later match a patient, are done through an automated blood donation.

Annually 10,000 new patients depend on the Be The Match Registry to find a matching marrow donor who will save their life. Most people (70 percent) will not have a matching donor in their family. Sadly, only five out of every 10 searching patients receive the lifesaving transplant they so desperately need.

It costs about $100 to add each potential marrow donor to the Be The Match registry.  Typing costs for this drive will be covered by health insurance and Michael’s Fund of Fall River. There will be no out of pocket expense for anyone wishing to the join the registry.

• WHEN:         Thursday, Oct. 25, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• WHERE:       Wakefield Elementary School, Multipurpose Room, 101 High Street, Wakefield, RI

About Be The Match

The Rhode Island Blood Center’s Marrow Donor Program is working the elementary school and local volunteers to host this event. The Rhode Island Blood Center is a donor center for Be The Match, involved in recruiting marrow donors and facilitating donations throughout New England.

Be The Match is a movement that engages a growing community of people inspired to help patients who need a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor. The National Marrow Donor Program, a leader in the field of marrow and cord blood transplantation, created Be The Match to provide opportunities for the public to become involved in saving the lives of people with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases.

For more information, visit www.bethematch.org or call (800) 283-8385, ext. 720.     

About Michael’s Fund

Michael’s Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help adults and children survive cancer through marrow transplants.

The organization was founded by family members of Michael Wrobel, who in 1996, at the age of 11, lost his battle with lymphoma when a matching donor could not be found. The organization provides funds that enable the Rhode Island Blood Center to add more marrow donors to the Be The Match Registry thus increasing the number of donors available to patients.