201 Potential Donors Register at Marrow Drive
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Every four minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer like Leukemia. That’s a frightening but all too real statistic. But, the “cure for blood cancer is in the hands of ordinary people.”
Members of the Miami Hurricanes football team recruited bone marrow donors with the University of Miami community during Wednesday’s fourth annual Marrow Donor Drive along the Green. Players handed out flyers and recruited participants from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. during the WellCanes Farmer’s Market.
“Giving back to the community and learning how to work together and communicate with each other off the field in order to help a great organization like Be The Match® is something that our organization takes great pride in,” head coach Al Golden said. “We look forward to this day every year because we know that every new person who registers for the Be The Match ® Registry is another opportunity for someone’s life to be saved.
“There was a lot of positive energy on campus today and I am extremely proud that our team was able to be a part of that atmosphere and able to register 201 people during the five-hour event,” Golden said.
“I would like to thank all of the members in the University of Miami community who helped increase the list of members in the Be The Match® Registry by promoting, organizing or participating in Wednesday’s event. Special thanks go out to our Director of Player Development Ryan McNamee, who continues to do a phenomenal job organizing this event along with the Community Blood Centers of Florida for all of their dedication and effort in the quest to save lives through marrow donation.”
The Marrow Donor Drive also holds a special place for Golden, whose teams also participated with the Be The Match® Registry at Temple University. Temple graduate extern Marc Schaffer, who volunteered to register for the bone marrow drive as a freshman in 2008, donated his marrow last year.
“Today was a great day being out on campus and spreading the word about marrow donation,” McNamee said. “Our players did a great job bringing energy and passion to the event and helping save lives in the process by working with others and registering new members to the Be The Match® marrow donor registry.”
Senior OL Jon Feliciano, senior OL Shane McDermott, senior TE Beau Sandland, redshirt freshman QB Kevin Olsen, senior WR Phillip Dorsett and junior DB Dallas Crawford were just a few of the many players that handed out flyers and recruited fellow students all over campus. From there, players were able to direct potential donors to both the registration tent and to the Miami Scoops ice cream stand, which provided a free scoop to whoever took part in the registry.
Thursday is the Hurricanes’ final spring practice before concluded the spring with UNITE.14 Spring Game & Family Festival Presented by BankUnited from 3-8 p.m. Saturday at Sun Life Stadium. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3, while WQAM will broadcast a live pre-game show from 3-6 p.m
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