Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh bone marrow testing drive set for Tuesday April 26
4/22/2011 8:56:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – For the third consecutive year, the Lehigh football program will host a bone marrow testing drive on Tuesday, April 26, inside of Lamberton Hall from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Lehigh is one of approximately 30 college football programs from around the nation participating in the event this year, which is spearheaded by Villanova head coach Andy Talley. The event is free of charge and targets potential donors from ages 18 to 60.
Lehigh assistant football coach Donnie Roberts has been heavily involved in the upcoming event, and is looking forward to a strong turnout. “The idea is to get your name on the national registry as a potential donor. What the test is looking for are healthy adult stem cells. The actual process is a cotton swab DNA test. The person getting tested is not donating now, but rather to see if they are a potential donor if they match.”
He continued, “Cancer affects such a large number of people and this is a chance for us to give back to the community as well as make people aware of different types of blood and bone cancers such as leukemia. We're hoping that Lehigh's athletic teams as well as people outside of the University tell their friends and can bring as many people out as possible for the event.”This is Talley's 19th year of association with the bone marrow donor program, and since 1992, his hard work has resulted in over 11,500 potential donors being entered into the registry. He has partnered with the National Bone Marrow Be the Match Program in order to take his efforts to the national level, and for the third consecutive year, has received commitments from over 30 other college football programs from around the nation that will join in the screening process.
In the two previous years this event has been held at Lehigh, several students have been identified as potential matches.
Each year approximately 10,000 people in the United States need an unrelated marrow or corblood transplant; but less than half of those people receive the transplant they need.
There are approximately 20 million people worldwide who are registered as potential marrow donors, yet there are only about 250 matches found each year, making it a 1-in-80,000 chance that a registered donor will be a match. Donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are highly encouraged to get tested as patients in need of a transplant are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity.
“We encourage ethnic minorities to seriously consider getting tested,” Roberts said. “There is a very low number of ethnic minorities on the registry and so we encourage them to come out.”
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