Saving lives can sound like a daunting task, but PLUs’ football and baseball teams are up to the challenge. Scattered around key points on campus, members of their respective teams, as well as alumni, have come together to advocate for stem cell and bone marrow donations through the National Marrow Donation Program (NMDP). “It’s super easy. You just scan the QR code and get set up,” said sophomore Eddit Sanchez.
The players have been working with NMDP for several years now, with the intention to “do it once a year for D3 (Division three) week, which is the first week in April,” said Football coach Brant McAdams. The amount of students donating from PLU is impressive, said McAdams. “PLU is an anomaly. We’ve had 3 donors in the last couple years.” Some people never get notified of being a match. Even those ineligible to donate blood can still be a donor.
McAdams expressed that part of his motivation to do this work was inspired by retired football coach Andy Talley, who founded the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation. “It’s a chance for Lutes to make it happen,” shared McAdams.
Talleys’ website states the grim reality that those in need of stem cells face. The website states that “every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. Each year, tens of thousands of patients diagnosed with life threatening diseases, such as leukemia or lymphoma, find themselves in desperate need of a transplant. The chances of a patient finding a family related donor is only 30%, leaving most patients to rely on an anonymous donor from a registry.”
To register in the system for future donations, you can find alumni, and current students in Red Square, the Hauge Administration Building, or tabling on the top floor of the University Center. If you don’t get a chance to sign up today, you can visit nmdp.org to register.
