Being rated as the second most diverse university in the nation is even more effective if the perks reach beyond UMBC’s borders.

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, UMBC will be conducting the first on-campus Bone Marrow Registration in 4 years. In correspondence with “Colleges Against Cancer”, senior Mike German is the head coordinator for UMBC, working with student volunteers on the Commons Main Street from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

About 75-80 percent of registered people are Caucasian while the other 10-15 percent are other minorities (www.marrow.org). This is problematic for minorities such as Asians and blacks where finding a match is significantly more difficult and competitive in a small minority registration pool.

“I thought since UMBC is the second most diverse school in America, what better way to try and get more registered minorities?” German said.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for students to help out so many others in a way that doesn’t take up so much time,” sophomore, Michaela Vaporis said.

“We had a lot of help from volunteers, getting the word out there,” German said. “It was kind of a scramble putting everything together to make sure it runs smoothly.”

The registration process is a simple one that anyone can participate in. Taking only about 5-10 minutes, cotton swabs are brushed inside of the cheek, collecting tissue samples that will later be used to identify bone marrow matches. Once you register, you are on the list for life.

“We are trying to register at least 750 people but we need your help to do so,” German said.

Say you turn out to be a match for a cancer patient, what then? The actual extraction of bone marrow is not quite as simple or brief as the registration process.

The easier and what’s becoming the more common way to make the extraction is by drawing blood, called peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC), after the volunteer takes hormones for 4 days, to boost the needed stem cells. This is the process about 70% of the time.

The second option, and undoubtedly the more painful one, is to extract the bone marrow through the hip bone. This misconception often scares away potential volunteers, particularly those who are already in the registry, not realizing what the process is after the cell samples have been made.

If a possible match between you and a patient is made, some further testing might be required, such as more tissue samples or blood to further determine if you are the best possible match. Once that is verified, you will continue on to the actual extraction. While patient confidentiality is a prominent feature of the process, the volunteer can obtain basic information such as age, gender, and disease.

Becoming a bone marrow donor will guarantee someone’s life out there, perhaps even someone you know. If being on the registry is not the way you want to help, then volunteer for the actual event, working with students willing to be swabbed and registered for life.

An all day school organization, the Bone Marrow Donation event will be a fantastic way to bring not only the UMBC community together but the national community as well. For more information on marrow transplants, visit the website, www.marrow.org. 

Written by and posted on behalf of Nikoletta Gjoni