Bone marrow registry drive Thursday at the University of Maine at Augusta

AUGUSTA — The public is invited to a “Be The Match” Bone Marrow Registry Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in the lobby of the Randall Student Center on the campus of the University of Maine at Augusta.

Across the United States, more than a million people suffer from a variety of syndromes and cancers of the blood, including Globoid-Cell Leukodystrophy, Leukemia, Metachromatic Leukodystrophy, Multiple Myeloma, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, according to a news release from UMA.

The names of these diseases may be strange, but there’s a stark truth behind them: without a bone marrow transplant from a matching donor, people with these diseases will die. With a bone marrow transplant from a matching donor, many of these people will live, according to a news release from “Be The Match.”

The difference between life and death is a quick, simple, painless cheek swab to test whether a donor’s tissue type matches the type of someone in need. For those in the prime age range of 18-44 for healthy marrow, there is no cost to join the registry. A simple search of the registry connects patients to donors, and the Be the Match Foundation pays all outstanding expenses associated with donation.

“There are so many choices we have to face in life that are hard,” said University of Maine at Augusta Assistant Professor James Cook, who is co-sponsoring this year’s drive with the Be the Match Foundation according to the release. Cook was moved to organize this month’s bone marrow registry drive after his wife, Tracy Jalbuena, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a deadly blood cancer. A mother of two and emergency room physician in Midcoast Maine, Dr. Jalbuena needs a bone marrow transplant to save her life but has been unable to find a match, either in her family or in the national bone marrow registry. To save her life, a matching donor must join the registry. Jalbuena and her family are not giving up. “I know that someone out there is a match for me,” she said in the release. “We just need to find that person.”

As a health care professional, Jalbuena knows the need is great. “It’s not just about me. There are so many people waiting for a donor,” she said. “The beautiful thing about joining the bone marrow registry is that you might sign up in honor of one person, but end up saving someone else. Even if you aren’t my match, you could help someone else who is in dire need.”

For more information about the event, contact James Cook at 621-3190 or james.m.cook@maine.edu. Those who cannot attend the drive on Feb. 26 and are interested in joining the registry through the mail, visit http://join.BeTheMatch.org/marrowmeTracy online.