Every year 30,000 people are diagnosed with blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell anemia, all treatable by blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants. On November 8th and 9th the MRC decided to do take on the challenge of registering Oberlin faculty, staff, and students as potential bone marrow donors.

Unknown to many, bone marrow tissue types are inherited, therefore a person is most likely to find a compatible genetic match with someone of their same ethnic background. The MRC recognized this as a project that would address world wide health concerns pertaining to bone marrow transplants for people of color and people of mixed heritage. The transplant works by replacing the unhealthy blood cells with the healthy blood cells of the donor.

People of color represent a mere 25% of all potential donors on the National Marrow Donor Program registry, with people of multi-ethnic/multi-racial backgrounds representing an extremely low 2%. This demonstrates an unacceptable disparity in resources. The goal of this Marrow-thon was to diversify the pool of potential donors and to decrease the disparity amongst donors, so that all patients have equal access to resources and treatments.

The past two years we were fortunate enough to register approximately 170 Oberlin staff and students. Our partners, the National Marrow Donor Program of Cleveland and Seattle based organization Mavin, were extremely impressed with the turnout and the dedication of many of our organizers. Noel Baker, Anne Lowe, and Marion Parker, were extremely influential in seeing this Marrow-thon to fruition. The MRC is especially thankful for Marion Parker’s work and organization of a string band ensemble that played both days during the Marrow-thon. Both the Last Train String Band and the Plum Creek String Band filled Wilder Main with some amazing tunes, a clear attention grabber for our initiative. In the near future we look forward to making this an MRC tradition and surpassing our goal for 100 registered donors. If you are interested in working on this project or learning more about the process please contact mrc@oberlin.edu.