A prospective donor swabs his cheek Wednesday morning
SYRACUSE -- There's a new effort to diversify the donor pool for potential bone marrow transplants.
Paula Miller, with the 'Be the Match' Marrow Registry, says about a thousand people a year die waiting for a bone marrow donor. Unfortunately, many people are still reluctant to sign up to be a donor, thinking the process is painful. In reality, the test for the match is just a swab of your cheek - less work than brushing your teeth. If there's a match, Miller says making it happen is like a long blood donation in most cases... or an outpatient procedure in some - all paid for by donor banks.
New medical information shows that in addition to helping leukemia patients, bone marrow transplants would help with genetic disorders that affect mostly African Americans, like sickle cell anemia. That, says Miller, is why they're looking to add more minorities to donor lists. Right now, of eight million people signed up, only 7% are African-American, 10% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian, and just 1% are Native American.
There are more donor drives on Thursday on the Syracuse University campus: Noon to 3:00 at Schine Student Center, and at Shaw Dining Hall from 11:00 - 2:00 and 4:00 - 7:00. The public is welcome to participate.
More information on bone marrow efforts and information on marrow donor drives can be found at www.giftoflifeonline.org.
