Every four minutes, a child or adult in the United States is diagnosed with some form of blood cancer, ultimately affecting nearly 170,000 people each year. There are no specific traits that could cause blood cancer; it could occur in anyone, anytime. Cures for many patients are possible, but the shortage of registered bone marrow donors leaves many patients waiting years to receive a transplant, if ever. Gift of Life at Grand Valley State University recognizes the need for more donors and encouraged more than 100 people to step up at their registration event last week.
Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a bone marrow and stem cell registry with national and global reach. The healthy tissues of a matched donor can help patients fight various forms of blood cancer, which include Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma. Currently there are 260,000 donors registered and Gift of Life has paired roughly 15,000 matches since its founding in 1991.
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