Swab Your Cheek and Maybe Save a Life at Marrow Donor Drive on March 10

If something that takes you just seconds to do could help you save another person’s life, would you do it?

Mercy Health and Anderson Township resident Tamara Doan and her family hope that you and countless others will say “Yes!” and join her at a bone marrow donor drive occurring from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, March 10 at the Mercy Health – Anderson HealthPlex. The HealthPlex is located at 7495 State Road in Anderson Township, ZIP 45255.

Doan, a Turpin High School graduate and single mother of two, is in her third year of remission after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in September 2014. One successful marrow donation saved Doan’s life and she is paying the gift forward by coordinating the event. Her 18-year-old son Tré will be the first person to join the registry.

Mercy Health - Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality care with compassion in your neighborhood through its care network, partners with Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), to host bone marrow donor drives. With just a simple swab of the cheek, men and women can join the bone marrow donor registry and find out more about how bone marrow donation can save and extend the lives of people here in Cincinnati and all over the world.

“One person in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer every three minutes, and 70 percent of these patients don’t have a matching donor in their families for bone marrow transplants,” said Registered Nurse Diane Shapiro, RN Transplant Coordinator at Mercy Health’s Blood Cancer Center. “Registration events, just like ours, help fill donation needs and raise awareness of blood cancer. We hope you’ll join us!”

Upon completion of a registration form, Be the Match will swab the mouths of people between the ages of 18-44 at no charge. Individuals within this age group who become donors provide cells and bone marrow that tend to lead to higher survival rates in recipients.