Bone Marrow Registration Drive on January 19
for Former Clifton Resident January 19, 2013
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Fifty-two year old Bruce Whited, a former Clifton resident and graduate of Passaic County Technical and Vocational High School in Wayne, suffers from mantle cell lymphoma and is in need of a bone marrow transplant to cure this disease.
Bruce, a PSE&G employee and dedicated EMT for the Lumberton Squad 139 where he now lives in Lumberton, New Jersey, was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma in 2010. After being in remission, the cancer returned several months ago. Bruce, the married father of a 20-year-old son, was born and raised in Clifton and is currently undergoing extensive chemotherapy. His only cure is a bone marrow transplant.
Potential bone marrow donors are invited to register at a bone marrow registration drive being held on Saturday, January 19 by Bruce�s family and The HLA Registry at Community Blood Services, a member of the National Marrow Donor Program�s Be The Match Registry, to search for a match for Bruce and other seriously ill patients like Bruce.
The marrow drive is being held in conjunction with a blood drive on Saturday, January 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hasbrouck Heights Municipal Building, 320 Boulevard. To join the marrow registry you must be between the ages of 18 and 44, be willing to donate to any patient in need and meet the health guidelines. Click here for more information about registering to donate or call Kathy Young at The HLA Registry, 201-705-1615.
Volunteer blood donors are asked to schedule an appointment by calling Community Blood Services at 201-251-3703 or by contacting Bruce�s sister Joanne at 973-473-8282 (message can be left on 24-hour voicemail) or [email protected]. Walk-ins are also welcome but appointments are recommended. The blood drive will take place on a bloodmobile by the municipal building.
Every day, thousands of adults and children like Bruce are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma sickle cell anemia and other serious diseases that require stem cell transplants as a cure, as well as blood or platelet transfusions during treatment. Like Bruce, seventy percent of those patients will not find matches within their own families and must turn to the national Be The Match Registry to find a donor match. Also like Bruce, many cancer patients need lifesaving blood and platelet transfusions during their treatments.
Registration at the drive is free, painless and easy - a simple swab is taken of the inner cheek. Anyone interested in more information about registering or in learning more about bone marrow stem cell donations can call Kathy Young at The HLA Registry, 201-705-1615, or visit www.communitybloodservices.com.
The HLA Registry (HLA stands for human leukocyte antigens, the genetic information encoded on white blood cells) is dedicated to finding compatible unrelated donors for lifesaving bone marrow transplants. A member of the NMDP, it is the largest non-governmental donor center in the U.S. and has registered more than 230,000 potential donors in the NMDP�s data base.
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