Bone Marrow Drive

Scoop Jardine will join The William G. Pomeroy Foundation and Marrow Nation at a bone marrow drive in honor of 2-year-old patient Baby King. The drive will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, on the Quad at the Carrier Dome from 10 a.m. to noon before the SU vs. LSU football game.

Baby King was born with CD40, a hereditary immune deficiency, and receives treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, but without a bone marrow transplant this will become fatal.  Baby King is African-American. Racial and ethnic heritage are important factors in determining a bone marrow match. Because the markers used in matching are inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. Of the 12 million people signed up for the Be The Match registry, only 7 percent are African-American. Adding diversity to the registry will increase the likelihood that all patients will be able to find the life-saving match that they need.

Like many other patients, Baby King is among the thousands of people in the U.S. waiting to find their match. More than 70 percent of patients that are diagnosed with life-threatening blood diseases will not find donors within their own families. In a lot of cases, finding a compatible donor is the best or only hope for survival.

Join the mission to save lives and register with Be The Match. Joining the registry is quick and easy. To be eligible, you must be between the ages of 18 and 44, be in general good health and be willing to donate to any patient in need. To register at the event, you can fill out an application and have your cheek swabbed.