Did you know that it takes only five minutes to potentially save a life? Gift of Life (GOL) is an amazing organization that genetically matches potential stem cell and marrow donors to those suffering from blood cancer (leukemia) to help give them a second chance at life.
Gift of Life was first started in 1991 in Boca Raton, FL by Jay Feinberg. Feinberg was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. When he found that none of the registered donors were viable for the transplant, Feinberg and his family took the initiative to hold drives all over the world in search of his match. In the process, hundreds of other patients found viable matches and Feinberg, at his very last drive, found his match too. From Feinberg's drives over 4 years, 60,000 potential donors were tested and added to the registry. That is 60,000 more possibilities for a second chance after the diagnosis of leukemia.
You may be wondering how can you possibly become a potential donor in roughly five minutes? At one of GOL's drives, you can start your registration by downloading the SwabApp on your phone to gather some simple information, like how to reach you are found to be a match. Then you are on to the real life-saving part: cheek swabbing! You will be given a small envelope with four swabs enclosed. All you need to do is swab the upper and lower quadrants of your cheeks in a circular motion for 10 seconds each. Then you enclose the swabs and return it to one of the volunteers working the drive. You have just completed the first step in joining the registry and potentially saving a life!
If you become a donor (which is in itself quite rare), there are two procedures that you could voluntarily undergo. The procedures are either a donation of bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. Donating peripheral blood stem cells could be likened to donating platelets while donating bone marrow consists of extracting it from the hip bone. Even though the bone marrow extraction is a surgical procedure, it is outpatient and poses no risk or extended recovery time for the donor. Both procedures are also entirely voluntary. If at any point during the process you do not wish to continue, you are free to be removed from the registry or to decline to be a donor.
Gift of Life has expanded in many communities over the years, but one of the biggest and most influential groups are colleges and universities. Our FSU chapter has made incredible progress in getting thousands of swabbed and tested despite being a small club. We hold regular drives at popular campus spots as well as social and charitable events. I myself am a member of GOL, and I urge every student to get swabbed, join the cause, and save a life.
To get involved, email our wonderful President, Jen Magi, at jm16r@my.fsu.edu.
