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Students sign up to join the National Bone Marrow Registry during Hillel's Got Swabbed event on Wednesday in Ping.

"Got Swabbed" event honors former organizer Haden DeRoberts

This story has been updated to reflect the most recent reporting.

About a month and a half after Haden DeRoberts, a former Ohio University student, died of leukemia, Hillel held its annual "Got Swabbed" event to help save the lives of people like DeRoberts in the future.

The event, which makes it easy for college students to join the national bone marrow registry, was held in Ping Center on Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. DeRoberts, who received a bone marrow transplant in 2012, helped organize the event for several years. Lauren Goldberg, assistant director for Hillel, estimated that almost 500 people were swabbed at the Wednesday event.

“Got Swabbed” began in 2009 and now receives support from many organizations, including Alpha Epsilon Pi and national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. The event encourages people to do a simple test of swabbing the insides of their cheeks in order to see if they’re a match for someone in need of a bone marrow transplant.

“Since 2009, we have collected over 18,000 kits, made over 350 potential matches, and (made more) than 30 perfect matches,” Goldberg said in an email.

Bridget Ebner, a sophomore studying communication studies, thinks “Got Swabbed” is great cause.

“Helping people who desperately need bone marrow is one of the best things you can do,” Ebner said. “I’ve known people that have needed bone marrow transplants, and I think it’s so important that we help.”

Sarah Weingarten, a senior studying journalism, is a member of the Got Swabbed organizing committee. She said the committee originally planned to be on a hiatus but decided to host “Got Swabbed” because “it’s something that [Haden] would want.”

Weingarten said the program was held in Ping Center during January because it’s a “prime location” for students with New Year’s resolutions.

“You need bone marrow and cell plasma that’s young, and young people are on college campuses,” Weingarten said. “It’s also really important because there’s a lack of diversity in the national bone marrow registry, and we really need minorities to be registered.”

Janet DeRoberts, Haden's mother and a resident of Grandview Heights, said she was “thrilled” the program was continuing and that joining the registry was a “no-brainer.”

“Somebody out there who is someone’s special person — a son or a daughter or a father or a mother — needs a bone marrow transplant, and you could be the answer to that person living or dying,” Janet said. “The fact that they’re carrying on this in his being, to me, makes me proud that he had an effect, that he made a difference.”

@DixAubree

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