Just wanted to pass this note along to the college community: Yale's holding a marrow registration drive on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in memory of women's ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz.
Schwartz passed away in 2011 after a battle with cancer. She required a blood stem cell transplant to give her a new immune system, and with no genetically matching adult donor available, she had a transplant using two anonymously donated units of umbilical cord blood.
"Mandi’s plight shed further light on the needs of cancer patients everywhere, and the value of marrow donation," the university said in a statement. "Every year, thousands of people of all ages are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. Many of them will pass away unless they get a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant from a matching donor."
This is Yale's 17th annual drive - which matches Schwartz's No. 17. It's at Beinecke Plaza from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Steep Cage in Kline Tower from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Anyone else can go online to start the process of joining the NMDP Registry at my.nmdp.org/YaleSaves or by texting YaleSaves to 61474. Anyone with questions can contact 1-800-MARROW-2.
To join the registry, you must be between 18 and 40 years old and be willing to donate peripheral blood stem cells or marrow if you are a genetic match for a patient in need of a transplant, the university noted.