Four Westminster College student groups, in conjunction with Delete Blood Cancer, will be hosting a bone marrow donor drive March 3-5.
Westminster has held similar events in the past, but for Associate Professor and Organizational Leadership Program Coordinator Bob Hansen, who is helping coordinate the effort, this year the drive is especially meaningful.
In June 2014, Hansen's son, Matt, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Hansen said in an email that Matt has spent much of the past eight months in the hospital but is on the way to a full recovery due to a successful bone marrow transplant at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in late October.
"My son was able to find a great match through the donor registry and that is why he is alive today," Hansen wrote. "Our goal is to add to the registry so that more people have the opportunity to find a good match as they fight their leukemia or other blood cancers."
Students with the Westminster Service Corps, World Health Empowerment Project, Delta Tau Delta and Dr. Bob Hansen's seminar class will be in the JCI Hunter Activity Center from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and at the Mueller Dining Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5-6:30 p.m. each day trying to spread awareness and register potential donors.
According to a press release, Delete Blood Cancer - an organization that aims to register as many bone marrow donors as possible - says that someone in America is diagnosed with a blood cancer every four minutes. For many of those patients, a bone marrow transplant is their best chance for survival. Healthy individuals ages 18-55 are eligible to donate.
According to the release, registering as a bone marrow donor consists of a simple cheek swab. That DNA sample, along with basic contact information, will be sent to Delete Blood Cancer, which adds the data to the national registry. If an individual is called to be a donor, they will be asked to go to a donor clinic, undergo a physical exam and eventually have a "painless and non-intrusive" procedure known as PBSC, which involves a filtration of stem cells from the blood - not much different from donating blood, according to the release. When a potential donor is contacted, they always have the option to decline.
Ella Leslie, vice president of Service Corps, said in an email that the donor drive is important because it is an opportunity to educate the student body and community about blood cancers and the donor registry.
"My goal for the drive is to continue to register students and other volunteers, and to educate people on the process of the registry and how it can help. Hopefully students grow to understand how incredibly helpful a drive like this is," Leslie said. "If you register to become a donor, and someday are found to be a match for someone in need, you really could save the life of someone suffering from blood cancer."
Hansen said previous donor drives have drawn 40-70 people to register. The goal for this year's drive is to increase that impact and get 100 new potential donors signed up.
"The goals I have for this drive is simple: a good turnout and to educate people and get rid of the negative stigma of the bone marrow process," Delta Tau Delta member Kyrin Lewis said in an email. "I would tell people you have the chance to save a life, to let someone have a second chance in life - that's something that doesn't happen often."
Morgan Henry reiterated that appeal.
"Our team really feels like we can improve numbers and save lives," Henry said in an email. "There are people waiting for someone with your genetic make up to register at one of these events, and their life depends on it. So, be courageous, be a hero, you can do it!"