“Thank you for registering for the Be the Match Foundation’s Marrow Donor Registry Drive.” I repeated this line about 650 times on April 18th over a span of five hours. After months of preparation, the day of Yale’s fifth annual drive to add members of the Yale community to the national bone marrow registry had finally come. As the greeter for the majority of the duration of the event, I came face to face with 650 potential life savers. All in all, our efforts boosted the registry’s count by 843 members.
(Photo credit: Sam Rubin ‘95, Yale Sports Publicity)
I first became involved with the drive during my freshman year. A former Yale Women’s Ice Hockey player, Mandi Schwartz, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia during her career as a Yale undergraduate. After rounds of aggressive treatment, Mandi required a bone marrow transplant to combat the advancing disease. Since no one in her family was a suitable match for the donation, Mandi turned to the Marrow Donor Registry.
Around this time, Yale Football Coach Larry Ciotti was in the process of spearheading a Yale version of Get in the Game, Save a Life, a national competition for college football teams to see who could register the most potential donors to the bone marrow registry. The timing was perfect, and the Yale Women’s Ice Hockey team paired up with Yale Football to host the event.
(Photo credit: Sam Rubin ‘95, Yale Sports Publicity)
I was not at Yale at the time of the drive’s inception, nor was I ever fortunate enough to meet Mandi, however the first drive was a success as Yale students, faculty, staff, and community members rallied to find Mandi that life-saving match that she so desperately needed. Sadly, Mandi lost her battle to cancer in the same spring that the third annual registry drive was held.
The drive has since been named in Mandi’s honor. In five years, Yale’s drives, orchestrated by dedicated undergraduate students, have added nearly 4,000 new members to the registry. From this pool of nearly 4,000, there are 17 known matches to date. That is 17 lives saved by the Yale community. This number is sure to increase since each registry member remains in the database until the age of 61 once they join. To see a Yalie introduced to the woman whose life he saved with a marrow donation after registering through Yale’s drive, on Good Morning America, click here. Yale athletes John Oppenheimer ’14 (football) and Lexy Adams ’13 (field hockey) have also shared their stories about being a match and completing the marrow donation.
As a member of the Organizing Committee for the drive, I collaborate with other committee members to plan the event, prepare the kits for registration, reach out to local media and community members, execute the event on the day of, and brainstorm new possibilities or tools that could be used to increase registration counts. Our largest hurdle has consistently been the misconception that both the registration and donation processes are painful and invasive. This could not be more untrue. A cheek swab and some paperwork suffice to enter into the database, and in the vast majority of cases, the actual donation involves having blood drawn and filtered to remove the useful marrow components. For such a small personal sacrifice, the concurrent reward of saving a life is so great.
(Photo credit: Sam Rubin ‘95, Yale Sports Publicity)
Yale’s annual drives have won the national Get in the Game, Save a Life competition four of five years. Yale’s total of 843 this spring far surpasses the number two University of Delaware with 581 and number three Villanova with 523, though I acknowledge the victory lies in the lives saved and not the inter-school competition. Since you only need to join the registry once, there is an added challenge each year the drive is held because the pool of potential donors shrinks despite the influx of a new freshman class.
The drive grew to reach its large-scale success when the Yale community sought to help one of its own: Mandi. As people joined the registry and matches were made, the realization spread that not only were people joining in the efforts to save one person, but strangers of all ages, genders, and races, all around the world, were also benefitting from the increased membership in the Be the Match database.
During my time at Yale, I have been fortunate to meet so many selfless, passionate, and caring people. For me, the drive serves as a constant, shining reminder of how strong Yale’s community is and how committedly Yalies work to make a difference and to do something that matters. Seventeen lives saved, and counting, is certainly an enormous difference. Despite the efforts that the organizing committee has invested into this event, year after year, I know that we would be nowhere without the support of Yale’s community.
(All photos by Sam Rubin ‘95, Yale Sports Publicity)