@CanesFootball Holds Bone Marrow Drive
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami football team held its fifth annual Bone Marrow Drive in conjunction with the Be the Match® Foundation on the UM campus Wednesday afternoon.
Players, coaches and staff members from the Hurricane football team spent the afternoon encouraging people to join the bone marrow registry and assisted in the registry process.
Since the team began the bone marrow drive in 2011, Miami has added 729 people to the national registry. This year, the team added 186 people to the registry in a rain-shortened event.
“Working with the Be The Match Foundation® has always been a point of pride with our entire program,” said head coach Al Golden. “It takes a total team effort to make this event a success, but it is an initiative that our entire organization has truly bought into every year. I’m so proud of our team and the work they have put into this event to make it a success. There is a genuine passion within our team to help those in need and to help save a life, which says a lot about the type of people we have in our program.”
In addition, the Hurricanes’ received support from OneBlood Community Centers of Florida and the University of Miami Delta Epsilon Psi Fraternity during the bone marrow drive.
To join the registry, potential donors must be between 18 and 44 years old, meet health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need. Donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are especially needed.
For thousands of patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases, a marrow transplant is their best or only hope for a cure. Most do not have a matching donor within their families, so they depend on the Be The Match Registry to find someone who can give them a second chance at life.
ABOUT ‘BE THE MATCH’ Be The Match is a movement that engages a growing community of people inspired to help patients who need a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor. The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), a leader in the field of marrow and cord blood transplantation, created Be The Match to provide opportunities for the public to become involved in saving the lives of people with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. Volunteers can join the Be The Match Registry, the world’s largest and most diverse listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood units, as well as contribute financially to Be The Match Foundation or volunteer their time. For more information, visit BeTheMatch.org or call (800) MARROW-2.
