Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh to host bone marrow testing drive on Wednesday April 17
4/11/2013 7:44:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – For the fifth consecutive year, the Lehigh football program will host a bone marrow testing drive on Wednesday, April 17, inside Lamberton Hall from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Lehigh is one of 35 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 44.
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.”
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 21st year of association with the bone marrow donor program, and since 1992, his hard work has resulted in over 21,000 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. This year, Talley has received commitments from more than 30 other college football programs from around the nation that will join in the screening process.
In the four previous years this event has been held at Lehigh, several students have been identified as potential matches, including football student-athletes Mike Groome '12 and Ryan Kuntz '14. The drive also has extra significance for former Lehigh men's basketball captain Adam Hyncik '07, whose mother Marilyn is in need of a bone marrow transplant but has been unable to find a match. Hyncik participated in last year's event and will be back again on Wednesday.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.
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