Students participate in bone marrow drive

Previous MU bone marrow drive holds record for most samples collected.

By Erica Zucco

Published Oct. 12, 2007

Along with the annual Homecoming Blood Drive, MU students, faculty and Columbia residents had the opportunity to participate in a bone marrow drive targeted toward finding matches that could save the lives of leukemia patients worldwide. The American branch of the German-based Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei (DKMS), the world's largest bone marrow donor center, sponsored the event.

"This is one of the nation's largest two-day drives," said Russel Hornbeek, DKMS representative and marrow drive volunteer. "Students here have the opportunity to save lives."

As of Thursday afternoon, students had donated over 850 samples.

This past semester, MU junior Julie Zick organized the first bone marrow drive at MU during Greek Week in conjunction with the semi-annual blood drive. Zick organized the first drive to help her cousin, who needed a bone marrow transplant. A match was found, and the transplant was arranged.

But the impact of the drive extended beyond Zick's family.

"We set the North American record for the most samples collected in one drive ever, bringing in 1,102 samples," Zick said. "We're trying to do that again."

According to a pamphlet given to potential donors created by the DKMS Bone Marrow Donor Center, an important factor in the transplant of a bone marrow is the match of at least six tissue characteristics between donor and patient. There are 2,000 possible tissue characteristics, resulting in thousands of combinations. Only one in five patients will find a donor. This number is even smaller for black and Hispanic patients due to an even greater variety of tissue characteristics.

Potential donors provide a cheek swab sample, which is then tested for DNA components. If a potential donor's characteristics match up with those of a patient in need, they will be contacted for either a peripheral blood stem cell collection or a bone marrow

collection.

In addition to the bone marrow drive at MU, DKMS has organized drives and awareness events across the country.

"The Music Saves Lives program is proving to be a great way to collect these samples," Hornbeek said.

With Music Saves Lives, Hornbeek and other DKMS representatives travel across the country collecting samples from concertgoers.

"We've been on Warped Tour, on Taste of Chaos and at the Jack's Mannequin concert," Hornbeek said.

DKMS is also sponsoring the Get a Life Tour, visiting colleges in search of potential bone marrow donors. Bands including The Used and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus play for college students, who receive early admission if they donate samples.

"Students willing to help out can even hold a drive in their home state," said Hornbeek. "They should visit the DKMS Web site for more service opportunities."