NMDP, Tech football partner to sign up stem cell donors
Leader photo by Caleb Daniel
Louisiana Tech linebacker Zach Zimos, left, talks Tech students through the process of joining the NMDP blood stem cell donor registry during a popup registration drive in Centennial Plaza Thursday.
Louisiana Tech University football players hit the recruiting trail Thursday.
No, not athletics recruiting. These players, along with Tech’s Phi Mu chapter and other volunteers, were on campus recruiting blood stem cell donors to potentially save the lives of cancer patients.
NMDP, formerly known as Be the Match, owns and operates the largest and most diverse donor registry in the world, connecting patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma with donor matches for life- saving blood stem cell transplants.
Even with 23 million donors in the registry, finding a match for patients is much more complicated than simply corresponding blood types.
“Many patients cannot find a matching donor from their family,” said Eric Bolton, NMDP regional account manager. “70% of the time, they’re going to find it from an unrelated donor.”
Bolstering the registry is especially important when it comes to patients of color. Matches are typically of similar ethnicity, and the current donor pool is much larger for white patients, giving them a 79% chance of finding a match.
That’s compared to a 48% chance for Hispanic patients and just a 29% chance for Black patients.
“Hoping we can get as many people as possible registered to help save someone’s life,” Bolton said.
The organization made a presentation to the Tech football team Wednesday night, and many players joined the registry. Then they helped NMDP sign up more students Thursday at a pop-up booth at Centennial Plaza.
“One of our core pillars of our football program is service, so we want to give the guys plenty of opportunities to do that, whether that’s with the Tech community, the Ruston community, or this program that works nationally and internationally,” said Leslie Brister, assistant to head coach Sonny Cumbie.
“Just helping them realize they get poured into everyday, and they need to take part of what’s been poured into them and give it to others.”
A Tech graduate, Bolton said partnering with athletics programs piques that extra level of curiosity that can net even more donors.
“When you get the football team involved, it gets more people involved, gets people more excited,” Bolton said. “People are curious: what’s going on, what are they doing? And if they can (sign up), maybe I can do it too.”
