WVU Medicine Camden Clark plans Be the Match stem cell screening event
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PARKERSBURG -- WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center will hold Be the Match stem cell screening opportunities for employees and residents from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Grand Central Mall by Boot Barn and Books-A-Million.
In addition to the community screening event, Camden Clark will host an internal Be the Match screening opportunity for employees as part of its Thanks for Giving employee appreciation campaign during the month of November.
Thousands of people are diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. A cure exists.
Over the past 30 years Be The Match, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, has managed the most diverse marrow registry in the world. The organization works each day to save lives through transplant.
Residents can help by attending a screening event or joining the Be the Match registry:
* To join the Be the Match Registry, individuals must be between the ages of 18-40.
* It takes three minutes to complete the online registration form and 30 seconds to swab your cheek.
* Be the Match will test the kit and add you as a potential donor to the registry.
* You only donate your stem cells if you are called as a match for an individual patient.
* Donation is Free. All travel, meals and hotel costs for the donor and one companion are covered by Be the Match. All medical costs are covered by patient's insurance or Be the Match.
Two Camden Clark EMS employees became Be the Match stem cell donors to support the organization's efforts to save lives throughout the world. Both Yolanda Roberts and Katie Drinks were screened and joined the Be the Match registry and have both donated approximately 350 million blood stem cells each to two patients.
"About 12 years ago, there was a police officer's wife in Parkersburg that needed bone marrow. A lot of police, fire and EMS workers all went and got swabbed to be a potential match. I honestly forgot about it until I got the call that I was a match to someone in Sweden," Roberts said.