This Saturday, January 19th, there will be a bone marrow donation drive held at Davidsonville Elementary from Noon to 4:00. By having your cheek swabbed you could save a life!!!

I was inspired to coordinate this drive after learning that my childhood friend's little boy needed a bone marrow donor and there was no match within the family. Joey is the youngest of 3 boys and one day younger than my daughter. He has faced a rough road. Spending a lot of his young life (he is 2 years old) at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His mother, Maura, attended Davidsonville Elementary, Central Middle and graduated from South River. She played volleyball and lacrosse at South River and was even the JV Volleyball coach at South River at one point. Her mother, Michele, works at Davidsonville Elementary as an instructional aide in kindergarten. Thankfully, Joey found his bone marrow match through the national bone marrow registry. 

Each year over 6,000 patients turn to the Be The Match Registry in hopes of finding a match for their life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. Thousands are diagnosed each year with leukemia and 70 other life-threatening diseases in which a transplant is their only cure. The Be The Match Foundation is dedicated to supporting the National Marrow Donor Program by providing support to add members to the registry (a cost of $100 per individual added), provide financial assistance to patients, and advance medical discovery, helping all patients in need. 

In addition to adding individuals to the registry, we hope to raise essential funds for Be The Match through a chance auction and bake sale. Auction items include: carpet cleaning by All Hands Carpet Cleaning, Mary Kay products, Tastefully Simple, Jamberry Nails, jewelry from Robyn Joy Creative, gift cards from Ledo Pizza, an autographed picture of the University of Maryland football team, BaySox tickets, a family night out basket, a family game night basket, a gift card for an 8 week dog training class, and more. 

Please join us. It's in your DNA to save a life!!!