We Hope You Will Get Registered through a Cheek Swab

Here is a snippet from the Gift of Life website where you can decide if you would like to be screened for the bone marrow donor registry. Even if you are not a match for Libby, you could be a life-saving match for someone else. We hope you will order your cheek-swab kit today. And if you are between the ages of 20 and 30 (and have not been pregnant), you are the most likely to be matched! The link is at the bottom of this post.

At Gift of Life we believe every person battling blood cancer deserves a second chance at life — and we are determined to make it happen. We are singularly passionate about engaging the public to help us get everyone involved in curing blood cancer, whether as a donor, a volunteer or a financial supporter. It all begins with one remarkable person, one life-changing swab and one huge win — finding a match and a cure.

Blood cancer is an umbrella term for cancers that affect the blood, bone marrow and lymphatic system. In most blood cancers, normal blood cell development is interrupted by uncontrolled growth of abnormal blood cells. The abnormal blood cells can prevent blood from fighting off infection or preventing uncontrolled bleeding.

Unfortunately, blood cancer can strike any one of us at any time. Approximately every three minutes, a child or adult in the United States is diagnosed with a type of blood cancer. That’s 360 people a day, 130,000 people a year.

There are three main types of blood cancers: Leukemia, cancer that is found in your blood and bone marrow; Lymphoma, blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system; and Myeloma, blood cancer that specifically targets your plasma cells.

For many, there is hope of a cure through a bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplant. Today, transplantation, of healthy stem cells donated by related and unrelated volunteers, offers hope to many patients suffering from these sometimes deadly diseases.

Advances in transplantation have made this procedure a reality for thousands who are alive today because a stranger gave them the Gift of Life!

To register for a cheek swab kit, click here.