Bone Marrow Donor Drive

Registering to be a donor is simple — just a quick rub with a cotton swab against your inner cheek.  Individuals between the ages of 18 and 55 who are in good health are eligible to register. Each swab sends a message of hope to all those in need of a bone marrow transplant.  We especially wish to honor Mandy Manocchio-Putney, a Boston mom of two young boys.  Mandy was adopted as a child from South Korea, and will most likely need an Asian donor. Diversity counts!  As a Community Wide Event, we encourage FCC members to invite their neighbors to participate in the donor drive.  Every year, more than 12,000 Americans are diagnosed with a disease that requires a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. When Caucasians search through the 10.5 million donors on the registry, they have a 93% chance of finding a good match. Asian or Pacific Islanders have a 73% chance of finding a match. Black patients, whose genetic diversity has increased since they’ve mixed with whites, Native Americans, and Latinos, have only a 66% chance of being matched.

If you're selected, donations happen in one
of two ways. Most of the time donors can give blood stem cells in a nonsurgical
procedure similar to a blood donation. Doctors
ask for the second type of transfer, a marrow donation, 25% of the time. In
these cases, they use a needle to collect marrow from inside the pelvic bone.
Donors are given anesthesia, so the procedure is relatively painless. 

There are three ways you can help….

-get the word about the drive in your neighborhood,

-register
to be a donor on Sunday, 10/20    

-be
one of 12 volunteer at the Drive to check people in and walk them through the swabbing
process. 

Please email Suzanne Leslie at suzanneleslie@outlook.com if you’d like to help or have question.