In order to spread awareness about blood cancer on campus, SA will be hosting a swab-your-cheek event on Oct. 31 during the tailgate at Wildcat Country.
Earl Young, ACU alumnus, Olympic sprinter and bone marrow transplant recipient, will be there to sign autographs, meet people and encourage them to spread the word about the cause.
Jan Meyer, assistant dean of Student Life, said the Residence Life staff is going to be hosting activities this semester to encourage students to get swabbed. Every residence hall will host an opportunity for to be swabbed.
“The most important thing about being registered is that you have a chance to be a part of someone being cured, the only thing you have to do is say yes,” Meyer said.
The university is planning to host a donor drive in the Campus Center Thursday Oct. 29, Friday Oct. 30 and Monday Nov. 2 from 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. If students have any questions they can stop by the three tables on any of these days.
Young, a retired American sprinter, was diagnosed with acute myeloma leukemia four years ago and has made it his life’s mission to increase awareness about the delete blood cancer cause.
“The most important fact is that for every 10 people diagnosed with a blood cancer, only four people will find a match. Only a bone marrow match will cure them,” Young said.
Young’s foundation, Earl Young’s Team, is partnering with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in hopes of encouraging college students to be potential donors.
“We’ve established ourselves with 150 universities, including those in the CCCU, and we’re teaming up with them to find bone marrow donors in the college age. They are seeking donors in the range of 18 to 55 years,” Young said.
According to deletebloodcancer.org, every three minutes a person in the United States is diagnosed with blood cancer. For the majority of patients, a bone marrow transplant is the only operation that can save their life. The most common types of blood cancer include leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. The website states that 30 percent of patients find a matching donor within their family, while 70 percent must find a matching stranger to provide a bone marrow donation.
When a person registers with Delete Blood Cancer DKMS, he or she is added to national registry where any blood cancer patient can search and potentially find a match. Once a person’s HLA typing is processed, they are listed anonymously on the Be The Match Registry, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program.
