Donor drive supports Domer
Ann Gurucharri
drive director
Today, over 3,000 patients await a gracious bone marrow donor to save their life. We invite the entire Notre Dame community to join us in offering a second chance to those in need.
Tuesday, the class of 2002, Howard Hall and the Minority Pre-Medical Society will sponsor "Domer Donors," a bone marrow drive to register new potential donors in the National Bone Marrow Bank. Join us on Tuesday in LaFortune ballroom anytime from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You will not have to pay the typical $70 registration fee, and you will be registered until age 61. Entering the National Registry requires an initial blood sample, similar to a mono or strep blood test.
The drive came together in response to the growing awareness of the necessity of bone marrow donors within the Notre Dame community. Please support the senior class in remembering three classmates who died of leukemia, a cancer that, at times, is curable with a successful bone marrow transplant. Because minorities are under-represented in the National Registry and matches are often consistent with ethnic backgrounds, we join the Minority Pre-Medical Society in extending a special invitation to those of us of non-Caucasian and mixed ethnicities.
Perhaps most personally, please have your blood tested to see if you are the match that saves the father of Howard Hall resident Ann Gurucharri.
Having your bone marrow typed not only enables you to help a stranger, this information might one day quicken a family member's search or even your own in the case that you yourself become sick. However, the decision to register should be considered a commitment to donate, as there is nothing more devastating than thinking a match has been found but the donor will not share his or her marrow.
If you do become someone's life-saving match, you will undergo both a physical exam and a secondary blood test to ensure that you are indeed a genetic match and able to give you marrow. You will go to the nearest collection center, either Fort Wayne or Chicago, to have approximately one pint of marrow drawn from your hipbone under either local or general anesthesia. Typically, the donor feels slight pressure in the hip area for about three days following the procedure. Most return to normal activity the day after donation. The cost of this outpatient procedure and travel is covered by the recipient's insurance.
Though walk-ins will be welcomed on Tuesday, interested donors may save time by pre-registering online. To schedule an appointment, check your eligibility or for more information, visit www.nd.edu/~class02/donor. For more information regarding the National Bone Marrow Donor Program visit www.marrow.org.
See you on Tuesday.
Ann Gurucharri
drive director
Peter Rossmann
class of 2002 president
Lisa Sestile
class of 2002 secretary
April 15, 2002
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, April 15, 2002
