The Iowa Marrow Donor Program at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will hold four marrow donor registration drives on May 12 and 13 in eastern Iowa as part of the National Marrow Donor Program's "Thanks Mom! Marrow Drive" initiative.
The dates, times locations and sponsors of the drives are:
May 12, Friday
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Colloton Atrium, UI Hospitals and Clinics
Sponsored by:
- National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses
- Helen K. Rossi Volunteer Guest House
- Volunteer Services at UI Hospitals and Clinics
May 13, Saturday
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Manatts Building, Brooklyn, Iowa
Sponsored by:
- Chapter EY TTT in honor of Austin Kilmer who benefited from a transplant by an unrelated donor.
May 13, Saturday
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Messiah Lutheran Church, Burlington, Iowa
Sponsored by:
- Southeast Iowa Bone Marrow Committee.
May 13, Saturday
7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center, Davenport, Iowa
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Risen Christ Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa
Sponsored by:
- Risen Christ Lutheran Church and
- Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center.
These drives include a blood drive and are in honor of Lori McFate who has lymphoma and is searching for an unrelated donor.
Participation takes 15-20 minutes and consists of signing a consent form and having a cotton swab briefly inserted in the mouth. The participant's tissue type is entered into a national registry, and could benefit patients anywhere in the world. There is no expense to the potential donor.
If there is a potential tissue type match, blood tests facilitated by the Iowa Marrow Donor Program would be necessary to determine if that is the best match.
If you would like to know more about marrow donation or have a question about any of the events listed above, please call the Iowa Marrow Donor Program at 800-944-8220. The Iowa Marrow Donor Program is part of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at The University of Iowa.
Each year, more than 30,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with diseases treatable by a stem cell transplant. Of the patients needing to receive healthy stem cells from someone else, only 30 percent have a suitable family match, leaving the remaining 70 percent to rely on unrelated donors.
The Iowa Marrow Donor Program was created in 1981 and has been affiliated with the National Marrow Donor Program since 1991. Between 25 and 30 donors are called to donate each year from the Iowa Marrow Donor Program's registry of 21,600 persons, and many more are called for further testing. Approximately 2,000 people join the Iowa and national registries each year through the Iowa Marrow Donor Program.
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