11 years ago

Roberta Johnson of Be The Match and PHS Senior Tyler Hall visited at the 2013 Community Health Fair on Monday about the importance of marrow donation.

Roberta Johnson of Be The Match and PHS Senior Tyler Hall visited at the 2013 Community Health Fair on Monday about the importance of marrow donation.

At the local Health Fair on Monday, May 19, there were 22 booths and 403 attendees. Roberta Johnson was at the Be The Match booth, educating visitors on bone marrow transplant. She had 42 donors sign up.

Every four minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. For thousands of patients with leukemia or other blood diseases like sickle cell anemia, a marrow transplant is their only hope.

You could save a life by joining the Be The Match Registry®. Patients especially need diverse registry members ages 18 to 44.
Marrow donation can be done in one of two ways.

In a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, a drug is given to donors for five days that increases the number of cells in their bloodstream used for transplant. Cells are gathered using a non-surgical, outpatient procedure. Donors may experience head or muscle aches, but are typically back to normal activities in one or two days.

Marrow donation is a surgical (usually outpatient) procedure which requires anesthesia. Afterwards, donors may have soreness in the lower back, but usually return to a normal routine within two to seven days.

Ask your doctor if you could be a candidate for marrow donation. If being a donor is not for you, financial contributions and volunteers are always needed.

Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education and guidance before, during and after the transplant.

To join the Be The Match Registry®, please call (800) 627-7692 or go online to www.BeTheMatch.org.