By REBEKAH RAY

rlr017@latech.edu      

 

“Heroes Save Lives Bone Marrow Drive” will come to Tech Monday, The University of Louisiana- Monroe Tuesday, and Grambling State University Wednesday, to see which student body turns out the most volunteers to be tested.

Kathy Reeg, of Ruston, is the coordinator of the Tech donor drive.

“We’ve designed this like a competition to try and get more people to come out,” Reeg said.

Reeg said ULM students are promoting the drive around Monroe. She also said Grambling has competitions going among its different spirit groups to see which group can turn out more volunteers.

“I just encourage Tech students and faculty, as well as anybody who lives in the Ruston area, to come out and show their support for this drive,” Reeg said.

Sue Ellen Cascio, of Monroe, is the overall coordinator of the three drives. She said potential donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60 and must meet certain health guidelines. Cascio said those who are insulin dependent or have HIV will not be tested. There will be a short health questionnaire and consent form for volunteers to complete before a simple swab of cheek cells is taken, Cascio said.

All three drives are sponsored by “The Friends of James Christopher,” a group Cascio began in 2005 to raise funds for a bone marrow transplant for James Christopher Allums, of Monroe. Allums is now 10 years old and still in need of a match for a transplant.

Ellen Allums, James Christopher’s mother, said, “5.5 million people have been tested and are in the national registry [of bone marrow donors], yet there are still 35,000 who need transplants that have no match in that database.”

James Christopher’s father, Chris Allums, encourages Tech students, faculty, alumni and citizens of Ruston to come out and support the drive.

“Of course the main reason to show up is for such a simple, easy test that has the potential to save a life, but people can even come just to support Tech, for the fun of the competition,” Chris Allums said.

An interview with Chris and James Christopher Allums will air tomorrow at 6 p.m. on Monroe TV station KNOE, according to the KNOE news room, and will give more information on the family and the three bone marrow drives.

Mouth-swab tests at the drive normally cost $55, but all costs are being covered through fundraising efforts by Friends of James Christopher.

“This drive will not benefit James Christopher alone,” Cascio said. “There’s no telling how many lives might be saved by those who come and are tested.”

Cascio said there are more children in the 35,000 number who need transplants.

“No one knows who those might grow up to become or what they might do,” Cascio said.

With a pool of 9,346 students at Tech, 4,685 at Grambling and around 8,500 at ULM, the Allums family is hoping at least 5,000 students, faculty, alumni and members of the community will show up to be tested at these locations. The largest bone marrow drive that the family is aware of, they said, holds a record of 2,800 people tested.

“In this life we seldom have the opportunity to be someone’s hero or to save someone’s life,” Cascio said. “By being tested and supporting this bone marrow drive, you will have that chance. This is your chance to be a donor, a hero and to save a life.”

All results from samples gathered will be added to the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. More information on what an actual bone marrow transplant entails can be accessed at www.marrow.org.

Anyone interested should contact Reeg at 251-1039 or Cascio at 323-0068.