Help Stop Hunger and Save Lives this November

Following nearly a year’s worth of successful recruitment campaigns such as the Thanks Mom! Marrow Drive and the nationwide Driving for Donors event, the Colorado Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) is providing more opportunities for the community to join the National Marrow Donor Registry this fall.

Bonfils’ CMDP will host its second annual Food and Marrow Drive in conjunction with National Marrow Awareness Month in November. Would-be donors are invited to bring a canned good to any Bonfils community donor center or blood drive during the month of November in order to join the National Marrow Donor Registry free of charge. Collected canned goods will be donated throughout the month to Food Bank of the Rockies and Community Food Share to help less fortunate families during the upcoming holidays.

Healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 60 may join the registry at any of Bonfils’ nine community donor centers or numerous daily blood drives. To register, potential donors will complete a health history and consent form and a small sample of cells will be collected for initial testing. Visit www.bonfils.org or call 800.365.0006, opt. 5 for community donor center hours and locations.

Each year, thousands of people in the United States are diagnosed with diseases for which a blood stem cell – more commonly known as marrow – transplant could be a cure. Approximately 70 percent of patients are unable to find a donor match within their family. Ethnically diverse patients have the greatest difficulty finding a suitable unrelated donor therefore, recruiting new and ethnically diverse donors is key to the ongoing success of the program.

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