Donors needed to save a life

A bone marrow donor registration drive was held on campus April 19-20 so that anyone  contracting diseases such as sickle cell or leukemia have better chances for survival.   

   Cancer survivor Clifford Ackerman and recruitment coordinator for Be The Match, a national marrow donor program in Dallas, said "We're trying to bring about a Be the Match Registry so we can save more lives."   

Ackerman said if a person from the registry is "the best match in the world," then that person would get a free physical exam to make sure they are in good health before becoming a donor and undergoing a collection. Eighty percent of the time, such a collection will be done through a blood

donation process.  

The most common form of donation is the Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC). It's a way to collect platelets or plasma and is a non-surgical procedure.  

It is estimated that marrow or blood cell transplants could benefit more than 10,000 children and adults with life-threatening diseases each year.

Seventy percent of patients do not have a donor in their family so they must depend on others. By joining the registry, a person can become part of every patient's search for a donor.  

To be a donor, a person must be 18 to 60 years old and in generally good health,  and be willing to donate to any patient that they match. The registration involves completing a consent form and a simple cheek swab test. This places the donor on the "Be the Match" Registry.  

Ackerman said the registry has been in operation for 24 years. They also have a Cord Registry, so that if someone has a baby, the parent can donate the umbilical cord blood to help save a life. 

"We started back in 1987 to help save lives. We're trying to bring awareness and get more people on the registry," Ackerman said.  

Pamela Moore, Richland adjunct faculty in the Learning Enrichment Academic Development Division, said she is a bone marrow transplant survivor. Moore sponsored the member registration drive on behalf of the Be The Match Registry to give everyone at Richland a chance to give the gift of life.  

"Please consider becoming a member so you can provide the needed help and hope thousands of patients are looking for," Moore said. "It only takes a cheek swab of the mouth to join the Match Registry." 

Moore said she was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997 and was told she needed to have a bone marrow transplant to survive. But none of her family members matched. Her physicians turned to the national marrow registry to find a donor.  

"It's HLA typing, which is your cultural heritage," Moore said. "It has nothing to do with your blood type."   

Moore said they found a donor for

her and she had her transplant in August 1998. She met Lisa, the woman who saved her

life, in February 2000. They have met

several times since.  

"I envision a day when no matter who it is, if they need marrow, that they will go to the registry and a match will be there," Moore said. "Right now, for African-Americans, only 7 percent of the entire population is represented on the registry." 

For more information, contact Ackerman at 214-820-1589 or clifford.ackerman@

baylorhealth.edu.