Freedom Valley YMCAs Host Donor Drives on Tuesday May 13th and Saturday May 17th
Phoenixville, PA. – 04/22/08 – Local residents have the opportunity to save a life on May 13th and 17th by joining the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) Registry during the Thanks Mom national donor drive. Each day, thousands of patients are searching for a life-saving marrow or blood cell transplant and local residents could be a match.
The Phoenixville YMCA will host a donor drive on Tuesday May 13th from 5-8pm at 400 E. Pothouse Road as part of Thanks Mom, NMDP’s largest awareness campaign of the year that runs May 5th through May 19th. Spring Valley YMCA will host a second drive on Saturday May 17th from 2-5pm. Spring Valley YMCA is located at 19 Linfield-Trappe Road in Limerick.
The drives are being organized by a group of volunteers led by local resident Amy Barto. Barto has been on the National Registry for almost 20 years and this February, she received her first call from the Registry. She was a preliminary match for a 12-year-old girl with leukemia. Regrettably, a back injury ruled her out as a marrow donor. “I decided that I would help out in another way.” said Barto. “If it took 20 years for me to be a match, then more people need to be on the Registry to increase the odds of saving a life. Since I can no longer be a marrow donor, my next best bet would be to find people who could.”
There is a cost associated to the tests which can be a barrier to adding donors but during the Thanks Mom campaign, tests are offered at a reduced rate or donors can join online for free May 5th-May 19th at marrow.org. Due to fundraising efforts by Barto and her team, donors will be tested for free at the YMCA drives. The Phoenixville Community Health Foundation is the lead sponsor of the event and is currently joined by First National Bank, Phoenixville Federal Bank and Trust, Phoenixville Hospital, and Frees Insurance as corporate sponsors. More sponsors are needed though.
Also, donors may choose to make individual donations to offset testing costs, which will allow for more donors to join. In additional to donations, also needed are volunteers to staff the drives. No experience is necessary; just plan to arrive at the donor site one hour prior to the event. Please contact Amy Barto at 610-983-9992 if you can help.
Every day, 6,000 patients in need of a life-saving marrow transplant search the NMDP Registry for a donor. Because only 30 percent will find a matching donor within their family, volunteer donors are needed. Local residents will have the opportunity to join nearly 7 million Americans on the NMDP Registry who are committed to saving lives.
Having a diverse Registry is key. Doctors look for a close match of tissue traits between donors and patients. Common traits are more likely to be found among people of the same racial or ethnic heritage.
“It is rare to have the opportunity to save someone’s life,” said Barto. “Someone in our area may be able to provide the life-saving gift of marrow or blood cells that a patient is searching for by joining the NMDP Registry.”
To be a member of the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, all you need is to:
• Be between the ages of 18 and 60
• Be willing to donate to any patient in need
• Meet health guidelines
Joining the Registry is easy. Those who attend the drive will have the inside of their cheeks swabbed and will be asked to fill out some paperwork. Donors may also join online at marrow.org.
New this year, the NMDP launched its virtual “Donor Garden” to help kick of Thanks Mom. Members of the public are invited to participate in the garden and show their support for patients in need of an unrelated transplant. The garden can be accessed by visiting marrow.org and clicking on Thanks Mom.
About the National Marrow Donor Program
The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and blood cell transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. The NMDP connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. For more information call 1 (800) MARROW-2 or visit www.marrow.org. Join online at marrow.org/join.