The holiday season is coming up and while many people will be shopping for gifts to give to family and friends, many bone marrow patients will be waiting to find a donor match. So why not give the gift of life to those who are diagnosed with leukemia by registering with the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry? By registering as a bone marrow donor, you could potentially help save someone's life.
"Hawaii's unique ethnic mix allows us to find potential matches not just for patients in locally, but across the nation as well," said Roy Yonashiro, recruitment specialist with the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
To help find a donor for those in need of transplants, the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry will be holding drives across the State this holiday season, including:
Saturday, November 15, 2008
8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Hilo Family Fun Fair
Mooheau Park Bandstand (across Farmer's Market in Downtown Hilo)
Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22, 2008
11/21 - 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
11/22 - 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Christmas "EG"stravaganza Craft Fair, Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium
Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in good general health. Donors need only to register once. If you have already registered and need to update your information or would like more information about becoming a donor, please call the Registry at 547-6154 or visit www.marrow.org
The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry was founded in 1989 and joined the National Marrow Donor Program to help patients in Hawaii and all over the world find healthy and willing bone marrow or blood stem cell donors. Only 30 percent of patients will find matching donors within their families; therefore, others need to find unrelated matches. Matches are more easily found between people of the same ethnic background. Since 1989, the HBMDR has recruited approximately 68,000 registered donors throughout Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa. Over 251 of those donors have actually donated bone marrow or blood stem cells for patients all over the world.
