Lucky donor at bone marrow drive
MARQUETTE — Only one in 430 bone marrow donors ever find a perfect match. But at Northern Michigan’s ‘Be a Match’ bone marrow drive, one donor defied those odds.
The drive took place between April 11th and 12th. Volunteer Center staff were on site to swab cheek cells and help students join the ‘Be the Match’ registry as a prospective donor. The lucky donor? Returning volunteer, Brooke Dishaw. Who turned out to be a perfect match for a 69 year old patient suffering from acute myeloid leukemia.
“When people turn to the bone marrow registry, they cannot find a donor in their own family; so they are looking for their last hope at life,” said Dishaw, “So you could be the one person that could cure someone’s cancer.”
Dishaw is just one example of why the drive targets college–aged students.
Volunteer Center Coordinator, Melissa Ostrowski explained, “It’s because we are healthy individuals, we are younger, and so it’s a little bit easier to give than those who are potentially older or younger than us.”
The drive attracted twenty–two donors on day one alone.