Young People Needed for Bone Marrow Drive

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MOSS POINT, Miss. -- Rotary Club President Linda Walsh is really hoping for a good turnout among young people at a bone marrow drive set Thursday in honor of Mississippi Gulf Coast native and Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts.

"We are so excited to have this for Robin Roberts," said Walsh. "She is doing so well. We are happy to be able to draw attention to the fact that so many more people need to register."

She said members of the Moss Point Rotary Club only recently learned that the national registry -- www.bethematch.org -- has changed its age limit, down from 18 to 60 years old to those ages 18-44. The change took effect Oct. 1.

"This is a big, big deal as far as getting younger people out," she said Tuesday.

She said the age change eliminates the large number of retirees in Jackson County who normally volunteer and participate in community events.

"There's not one Rotary member that's young enough to register, but we are very excited to support it and to come out."

Moss Point High seniors and ROTC members will earn service hours while they help register residents from noon to 6 p.m. at Dantzler United Methodist Church. "We hope teachers and students can come during lunch time," said Walsh.

"We are reaching out to high school students who are over 18, college students, young professionals like young attorneys, anybody at the hospitals, young teachers, anybody under 44," said Walsh.

Mary Lesueur, account executive with bethematch.org, said the age limit was reduced to increase the quality of bone marrow donations. "Those donors yield better results for the patients. The patients have a better outcome," she said.

Walsh said the other big deal about the bone marrow drive is that it takes only 10 minutes for residents to do paperwork and get a cheek swab to be placed on the registry. "We're hoping to get 100. That's our magic number."

Lesueur said that 35,000 people nationwide have registered since Roberts announced her need for a bone marrow transplant.
 
Roberts, a native of Pass Christian, announced in June that she had developed myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood and bone marrow disease that, in a rare instance, resulted from chemotherapy treatments for her previous breast cancer. She had chemo-therapy treatments during the summer and a transplant during September. Her sister, Sally-Ann Roberts, donated the bone marrow.