UK HealthCare

UK Pharmacy Residents, Students Participate in Bone Marrow Drive

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2012) − Many superstitions and myths surround Friday the 13th that simply aren't true and the same can be said about myths that surround bone marrow donation.  On Friday, April 13, pharmacy residents and students hope to educate and promote bone marrow donation for the Be the Match Registry®. 

Hematology and oncology pharmacy residents at UK HealthCare and students from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy are coordinating a Be the Match® event to provide people the opportunity to have their name placed on the national bone marrow donor registry to become a potential donor. The event will take place from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Friday, April 13, in the Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research Building (BBSRB) second floor atrium.
 

Bone marrow transplants offer people with life-threatening blood diseases like leukemia and lymphoma, a second chance at life, but many people in need of marrow are unable to have a transplant because a suitable donor cannot be found.
 

Be the Match®, a national education and awareness program sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), operates the registry of potential bone marrow donors. Since its founding in 1986, the NMDP has facilitated more than 50,000 bone marrow transplants both here in the United States and around the world. 
 

The process of getting listed on the national donor registry is simple, pain-free and takes about seven minutes. Participants will answer a few medical questions, fill out an application with contact information and undergo a simple cheek swab in four corners of their mouth.
 

After the day's event, the UK pharmacy residents and students are inviting everyone to Tin Roof at 7:30 p.m. to hear Ryan Hamner, a musician and four-time survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, play guitar and sing. Hammer wrote the song, "Where Hope Lives" for the American Cancer Society and his article, "A Look Through My Window," will appear in Coping, a consumer magazine for people whose lives have been touched by cancer. Tin Roof will donate a portion of the night’s proceeds to Be The Match.

Media Contact: Ann Blackford at (859)323-6442 or ann.blackford@uky.edu