The Vanderbilt Cancer Society will hold its sixth annual drive to register new members for the National Marrow Donor Program.

Marrowthon will take place at the Student Life Center today from noon to 8 p.m. and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The registration takes approximately 20 minutes and only requires a swab of the mouth. There will also be a blood drive to help with the nationwide blood shortage.

"Give a little bit of your time, and give someone else a lifetime," said Jacqueline Erb, director of Marrowthon.
Erb explained that each person's marrow has a specific DNA makeup. The more people on the registry, the better the chance of finding a specific match when needed.

In addition, the typical disqualifiers for blood donation, such as visits within the past year to a country where malaria is found, for example, do not apply to marrow registration.

"Currently there are over 2,000 people registered at Vanderbilt. Last year we had over 600 marrow registrations and over 200 blood donations," Erb said.

Erb said the blood donations are important because they fund the marrow registration, which costs about $52 per person due to the costs of the testing and expenses of the equipment. However, the people who register do not pay.

"We are also trying to engage minority communities to come out to the drive because they are very underrepresented on the registry," Erb said. "Only 20 percent of Asian and Hispanic patients find a match, while over 80 percent of Caucasian patients find one."

Proposed reasons for the lack of representation include cultural conceptions of the sanctity of the body, possible mistrust due to previous controversial government testing such as the Tuskegee Experiment, or just a lack of time or opportunity to register, Erb said.

In total, there is a one in 20,000 chance to be called upon as a potential match.

"We've actually had people called on as potential matches here at Vanderbilt, but after further tests they were not called to give," Erb said.

If called upon as a potential match, one is not required to donate; the choice is optional.

Erb said the actual process for the donation of marrow is also becoming less and less invasive. More detailed information can be found on the National Marrow Donor Program Web site, www.marrow.org