Jordan Culbreath '10 is well-known to the Princeton Community for his prowess on the football field, but now Jordan is facing a different battle with a deadly blood disease—aplastic anemia. Jordan has been told that a marrow transplant is a potential cure for his disease, but he is part of the 70% of patients who did not have a bone marrow match in their families. He, like thousands of other patients with life-threatening diseases, depends on the Be The Match marrow registry to find a match—someone like you.
 
We all have the power to help, to give hope. With enormous help from the Princeton Varsity Club and Be the Match, Princeton University students will be hosting a bone marrow registry drive in honor of Jordan on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at the Frist Campus Center Multipurpose Room between 10:00 am and 7:00 pm. No appointments are necessary; please stop by whenever you can make it during those hours. Joining the registry is easy, since only three things are required: paperwork, a quick swab of the inside of the cheek (no needles!), and a good faith commitment to donate marrow or blood stem cells to any patient in need. Since it is more likely that a matched donor will be of the same race/ethnicity as the patient, it is especially important for Jordan that more African-Americans join the registry. Adding more donors to the registry from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds increases the chances for all patients in need of matched donors, like Jordan.
 
For more information about this special drive, please call Caitlin Alev at 916.768.0014 or email Emily Tiernan at etiernan@princeton.edu. For more information about joining the registry, please visit www.marrow.org or email Caitlin Alev at calev@princeton.edu with any questions. If you cannot attend the drive on December 15th but still want to join the registry, please go here and request that a free registration kit be mailed to you.
 
To read more about Jordan’s struggle with aplastic anemia, check out this article on ESPN.com.
 
*It costs approximately $100 to conduct appropriate laboratory tests for each new Be The Match registrant. While registry at this drive is without cost, contributions of any amount are tax-deductible and are greatly appreciated in helping to cover the cost of the lab fees. Please make checks out to “Be the Match” and bring them with you to the drive on December 15th at Frist, or feel free to make a contribution in honor of Jordan online at http://www.marrow.org/index.html