A message from Fighting Red 5K race director Colin Hall:
On October 5th we will have the inaugural Fighting Red 5K: A Race to End Blood Cancer.
I got involved with Bone Marrow Drives a little over a year ago when my friend Leslie Harris was diagnosed with Leukemia 5 hours before she delivered her baby. They said she needed a bone marrow transplant. I took a crash course and started hosting drives.
Success
Since then we have swabbed over 7000 people. We have found 84 matches. We have had 5 official life saving stem cell collections, like Adam O’Dell’s.
It’s not as invasive as you think
The hard part about these drives is convincing people that bone marrow is not as invasive as it used to be. Now, 70% of the time they can go through your arm just like IV. Four to six hours later you will have donated a bag full of stem cells. It’s totally outpatient and most people are back to work within a week, by then your stem cells are replenished and any soreness has probably gone way.
YOU can save a life
We are teaming up with The UAMS Cord Blood Bank of Arkansas to educate about the donation of umbilical cords. Instead of the cords becoming medical waste afterwards, they can be donated to possibly save someone’s life via the stem cells inside.
Our other partner is Deletebloodcancer.org . They are the largest bone marrow donation site in the world. It is a simple cheek swab to see if you are a match for someone. You must be 18-55 and in good general health. You are on the registry until you are 61. The problem is that only about 2% of he population is on the registry. You have a 1 in 20,000 chance to save someone’s life.
We are excited to have this race over the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock to help educate, swab, and run for blood cancer awareness.
Hope to see you there!
Colin Hall
For more information about the race and other ways that you can help save a life by simply taking a few minutes of your time to get swabbed, please visit The Fighting Red 5K Facebook Page. You can read more about the Cancer Heroes like Leslie and the Swab Warriors like Adam on the Fighting Red webpage. Join the next Bone Marrow Match Swab Party! While most of us can only imagine what we might do in the face of a life threatening blood cancer diagnosis, Colin has exhibited not only true friendship and support but a willingness to put enormous effort into the fight to find donors and to fund research, not only for his friend Leslie, but for every patient fighting with her.
