Yesterday we had a bone marrow drive at church. We advertised it in the newspaper for the last 2 weeks. There were 113 people who got on the registry yesterday at our church drive.
What got this started was one of our own was diagnosed with Leukemia and he is waiting on a bone marrow match. Chuck Walden just completed his second round of chemo and has gone into remission.
Chuck and his wife Bobbie were at the drive yesterday and he noticed that just about everyone who came by to get on the registry knew either he or his wife.
The requirements to become eligible to be a bone marrow donor is that you be healty and between the ages of 18 and 60.
After filling out a health questionaire we sat at a table and took swabs of 4 parts of our mouths. From those swabs they get a DNA profile which they use to match you to those needing a bone marrow transplant.
A few weeks ago Chuck was told he would be lucky to have someone outside the family come up as a match for him. A few days ago Chuck was told that they found a match for him but not only that, they found 3 additional matches for his bone marrow transplant. Chuck knows that this is not luck but favor from the Lord.
Please consider starting or attending a bone marrow drive so you can help save a life. No blood taken, just 4 different swabings from inside your mouth.
The lady heading up our drive yesterday told us we would be lucky to get 50 people to show up to get on the registry. Instead we got 113. I thought we should have gotten 300.
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