PARAMUS, NJ --- PBA Local 233 and PBAs throughout Bergen County are sponsoring a marrow drive on Saturday, June 20th in hopes of registering lifesaving bone marrow donors from area communities to help those suffering from leukemia and other deadly diseases.

The PBAs are sponsoring the drive with The HLA Registry at Community Blood Services of Paramus, which recruits volunteer marrow donors to help save the lives of critically ill patients at community hospitals and around the world.

Patients like 15-year-old Amanda Salazar of Haledon who will undergo a stem cell transplant later this month to treat her sickle cell anemia. Or like Nobel Duran, a 37-year-old father of four from the Dominican Republic who now lives in Hackensack. Duran, who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), recently underwent a bone marrow transplant to save his life.

The drive, which is part of the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be the Match Marrowthon being held throughout the month of June, will be held June 20th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the cafeteria at Paramus Catholic High School, 425 Paramus Road.

“As police officers serving our communities many of us know how important it is to give back in any way we can and we hope members of the community feel the same way,” said Patrolman Don Nicoletti of PBA Local 233 in Closter.

“By organizing this lifesaving marrow drive, we are hoping community members throughout the area see the importance of registering to become donors and attend our event. To know you could make a positive difference in someone’s life is a great feeling. I would think anyone would want to have the chance to save someone’s life in their community,” Nicoletti said.

He said anyone interested can call 201-768-5923, ext. 412 for more information

Nicoletti also thanked Promotion in Motion of Closter and Kansas Packing Company of Harrington Park for helping sponsor the drive by picking up the costs of some of supplies.

“One of our goals is to increase the diversity on the registry,” said Nicoletti. According to National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) statistics, only 1.8 of the 7 million people on the NMDP’s Be the Match Registry are of ethnically or racially diverse heritages, he said.

“If we are able to register additional donors with diverse tissue types,” Nicoletti said, “then the chances increase for all patients to find a match and get the lifesaving transplants they so desperately need.”

Nicoletti said he is hoping for a strong turnout by community members on June 20th. “Joining the Registry is fast and easy, and you may someday be able to become a hero by saving someone’s life,” Nicoletti said, noting a consent form is filled out and then a cotton tip is used to swab the inside of a potential donor’s cheek. To register you must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in good health, he added.

Nicoletti said monetary donations are also welcome to cover the $30 cost of tissue typing for each person who registers.

About Community Blood Services

Community Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization devoted to serving the community’s transfusion needs for more than 50 years. It provides blood and blood products to patients in dozens of hospitals in New Jersey and New York and offers a wide variety of programs and services that help save thousands of lives each year, including a bone marrow registry (The HLA Registry) and a public cord blood bank, The New Jersey Cord Blood Bank (NJCBB).