Marshall University Bone Marrow Week helps find matching donors for patients in need across the country. 

Campus student ambassador Adam Guthrie said he is excited about the involvement at Marshall University and hopes to see a big turnout this year.  The international nonprofit organization DKMS is dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and other blood disorders by creating awareness, recruiting bone marrow donors and raising funds to assist with donor registration cost. 

Guthrie said this is the first time Marshall has done a bone marrow event to this capacity.

“It’s the largest event we’ve had here at Marshall,” Guthrie said. 

Guthrie said he wants potential donors to understand that bone marrow and stem cell donations have changed in recent years. 

Student volunteer Emmalee Moles donated stem cells in spring of 2017.

After being swabbed, Moles said she was contacted roughly two weeks later to donate stem cells. Moles said she believes DKMS made the process smooth and convenient for her, which makes her willing to donate again if needed. 

“I’d do it 100 times if I could,” Moles said.

The objective of the week is to get as many students swabbed as possible and into the database to help build a more diverse list of donors that could potentially help save more lives.

 Student volunteer Emily Moore said she was motivated to get involved with DKMS after a friend in high school was diagnosed with leukemia.

“We just wanted to help her out and do anything we could to support her and others with leukemia and other blood disorders,” Moore said. “Our goal is the swab at least 100 people per day to get 500 for the entire week.”

DKMS will be collecting cheek swabs until Sept. 21 on the Memorial Student Center Plaza. 

Students interested in learning more may contact Guthrie at [email protected].

Taylor Speight can be contacted at speight1@marshall.edu.