Ohio University students and faculty members who missed the chance to register for a bone marrow database last year received another opportunity yesterday to get swabbed.
OU's Student Senate, Hillel and the Student Activities Commission sponsored a bone marrow drive in cooperation with DKMS, the largest bone marrow donor center internationally. The drive was held in Baker University Center Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
As of 3 p.m. yesterday, around 200 people had gotten their cheeks swabbed, a painless process that takes about five minutes to complete, said Matthew Beddingfield, a student senator and co-chair of the drive. By the end of the day, the number had more than doubled - 428 new people had registered, he said.
Yesterday's event marked the end of a quarter-long donor drive. During various past events, including the Holocaust Memorial Program and Moms Weekend, about 500 new people registered, Beddingfield said.
This year's drive still came up short compared to last year, when almost 2,500 people registered.
Collectively (during Spring Quarter) we reached about 1
000 donors said Beddingfield, a junior studying journalism. I think we did pretty well.
Shaina Kass, an OU freshman studying commercial photography, became interested of the bone marrow drives on campus through her involvement with Hillel. Also, Kass's uncle is an oncologist, and her cousin donated bone marrow in the past.
I think it is a great cause Kass said. I really wanted to get involved and help others.
After getting swabbed and filling out some paperwork, the donor is registered with DKMS and is also listed on the Be The Match Registry. The registry is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, a nonprofit organization which gives patients the opportunity to find bone marrow and umbilical cord blood donors, according to the program's website.
Donors are listed in the database until the age of 65. If a match is made, the donor will be contacted and asked to go through a surgical procedure to donate bone marrow to the patient, said Matthew Newman, a freshman studying political science and bone marrow intern for Hillel.
OU senior Jake Wright-Piekarski was chosen as a match and underwent surgery to donate bone marrow to a 7-year-old cancer patient earlier this year.
The procedure can be somewhat painful
Newman said. But the two days of pain is worth saving a life.
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Leah Fightmaster
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Freshman Desmond Kenner gets swabbed to potentially donate bone marrow yesterday in Baker Ballroom. 428 people were swabbed during the group's largest event. This event was also held last year, but those who missed it got another chance to participate. (Erin Corneliussen | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
