NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL SEEKS DONORS FOR
NATIONAL BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY
What better way to say “Thanks Mom!” this Mother’s Day, for the life that she gave to you, than to offer that same gift to someone else. Consider becoming a life-saving marrow or blood cell donor by joining the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry during the 2008 Thanks Mom! Marrow Donor Drive.
Northside Hospital is joining forces with Atlanta Blood Services (ABS) and NMDP to educate people about the importance of marrow and blood donation and the donor registry and to recruit new potential donors. The drives will take place May 5-19, 2008, at locations throughout the Northside Hospital health care system.
On any given day, the doctors of thousands of children and adults across the United States are searching the NMDP Registry for a life-saving donor. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. For many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only hope of a cure when no one in their family is a close enough donor match.
“The larger the number of donors available through the registry, the greater the chance to find a match for patients,” said Patti Owen, director of oncology services at Northside Hospital. “We are encouraging people to stop by any one of the Northside Hospital drives to learn how they could help save a life.”
For cancer survivor Laurie Page, the importance of the Registry holds especially true. Laurie was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001 and was told by some doctors that there was no hope. She enrolled in the National Marrow Donor Program to find a match for a bone marrow transplant and, after several rounds of chemotherapy and a lengthy stay in Northside’s Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit, a match for Laurie was found. The transplant was successful and, today, Laurie is healthy and living happily in Marietta with her husband and two children.
“The NMDP gave me my life,” said Laurie. “I have been given a chance to watch my children grow up, to see my parents grow old and, hopefully, one day, to love and cherish my grandchildren.”
Laurie encourages others to join the NMDP Registry. “The benefits of donation are quite simple, you are possibly giving someone a chance at life,” said Laurie. “What could be a bigger motivation than that?”
“Thanks Mom!” marrow donor registry drives will be held:
Tuesday, May 6
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Northside/Alpharetta Medical Campus, Bldg C
3400 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta
Wednesday, May 7
4-8 p.m.
Northside Hospital 980 Doctors’ Centre
980 Johnson Ferry Road, Atlanta
Friday, May 9
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Northside Hospital-Atlanta Women’s Center
1000 Johnson Ferry Road, Atlanta
Tuesday, May 13
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Northside Hospital-Cherokee
201 Hospital Road, Canton
Friday, May 16
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Northside Hospital-Forsyth
1100 Northside Forsyth Drive, Cumming
Or stop by Atlanta Blood Services anytime
- Monday and Friday, 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
- Tuesday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-5:15 p.m.
- Saturday, 7 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
5670 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Suite 1075, Atlanta
www.atlantabloodservices.com
To join the registry, donors must complete a questionnaire and a cheek swab. There is no charge to join the registry during the Thanks Mom campaign.
Prospective marrow donors must be between the ages of 18 and 59, and in good general health. Minority donors are especially needed. The best chance of matching donors with transplant candidates is found among people who share the same racial or ethnic background.
For more information about the NMDP registry or to find out what to expect when joining, call Atlanta Blood Services at (404) 459-8744 or visit the National Marrow Donor Program’s Web site at www.marrow.org.
