Students show their support for Be The Match by getting swabbed in the student center and cheering on TV. // Alexis Friedman/The Hofstra Chronicle.
ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Be The Match, an organization that helps people sign up for the bone marrow and stem cell transplant registry – a database that will match those with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders with donors – hosted an event on Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 5-9 a.m. in the student center to encourage students to join the registry.
The event commemorates the 10th anniversary of the bone marrow transplant of Robin Roberts, a television broadcaster for “Good Morning America.” Lizbeth Hernandez, the account manager in New York for Be The Match, said that since Roberts’ transplant, she has done a lot to spread awareness about donating bone marrow to those in need.
“She has led over 25,000 people to join the registry and about 140 people have actually gone and donated to a person in need,” Hernandez said.
Be The Match also televised drives to join the registry at Duke University, Howard University, Villanova University and University of South Carolina. Jim O’Brien, a leukemia survivor and Be The Match volunteer, said that he thinks that this event and the attention it brings is incredibly important.
“Unfortunately for a lot of patients, their only cure is a bone stem cell blood transplant, and anytime they don’t have a match in their families to save their lives, they turn to the registry to find an unrelated matched donor,” Hernandez said. “We are the largest and most diverse bone marrow registry. We operate in all 50 states [and] in Puerto Rico and in Mexico.”
O’Brien was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 and has undergone two bone marrow transplants since then.
“I had a ridiculously easy time getting two matches. I never had any doubts or worries that I was going to be able to find a match,” O’Brien said. “I know I had an objectively privileged matching experience. I volunteered for Be The Match because I wanted to give people as good of a shot as I did at getting a match.”
Hernandez said that most people do not know how simple it is to join the registry. To join, individuals must be between the ages of 18 and 40. They will then fill out a health questionnaire to ensure that they are eligible to donate; after that it requires just a simple cheek swab to join the registry. If a person is found to be a match with someone in need, the donation is similar to donating blood, according to Hernandez.
Hernandez also emphasized the importance of having a diverse registry, and he encouraged individuals of all races and
ethnicities to join the registry.
“Unfortunately for Black and Brown people, there is not enough diversity and people of color in our registry to be able to save a patient who identifies as Black or Latina or Asian and so forth,” Hernandez said.
According to the Be The Match website, “Patients and donors often share the same race and ethnicity. The likelihood a patient has a fully matched donor on the Nation’s Registry varies from 29% for Black patients to 79% for white patients.”
O’Brien said that this event brings much-needed awareness to the lack of diversity in the bone marrow registry.
“The fact that Good Morning America is using their platform to promote something like Be The Match, especially during Black History Month with the disadvantage toward Black people, is great,” O’Brien said.
Be The Match is also advocating for the Life Saving Leave Act, which will allow bone marrow donors to take a 40-hour paid leave from work with no questions asked.
“There are patients with matches on the registry who are not getting a transplant because their donor cannot take time off work,” according to the Be The Match website. “Those patients who have a harder time finding a match on the registry are also impacted by their potential matches reporting not having the same access to time off work or job protections for donating.”
“I think the [legislation] is a really exciting development,” O’Brien said. “I think it’s a great step for our country moving forward.”
Eighty-seven Hofstra students were added to the registry on Tuesday and students from all different majors and clubs came to show their support.
“It’s great being the person who actually donates because you feel so good about yourself,” said Nora Janikian, a sophomore television production major.
“I think that if you are healthy and you have the ability to, you really should because other people aren’t granted that in life, and you should help them if you can,” said Francelia DePalma, a sophomore writing for the screen major.
Hernandez was pleased with Hofstra’s support for Be The Match and said that the organization will come back to Hofstra and host another drive in the future. Anyone interested in joining the bone marrow registry can learn more about how to do so at bethematch.com.
