BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team will host its 6th Annual Be The Match Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Tuesday, April 28 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall, and the Greyhounds will be holding the drive in conjunction with Kutztown University Associate Professor of Art Education Dr. Heather Fountain, who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and is in search of a bone marrow donor.
Dr. Fountain is a nationally recognized art educator, author, artist, and cherished teacher and mentor. Dr. Fountain and Kristin Baxter, Ed.D. Associate Professor of Art at Moravian College have had on-going collaborations, such as co-chairing the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) in Bethlehem in 2013. Dr. Fountain also participated in the study abroad trip to China, organized by Dr. Baxter in 2011.
Recently, Dr. Fountain was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). She writes, "I have a couple mutations that deem it necessary for a bone marrow transplant in addition to more rounds of chemotherapy. It will be at least a six-month process for the bone marrow transplant once a donor is found and hopefully an eight-month recovery after that if all goes well. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers. We are just at the beginning of our very long journey that will hopefully result in me being well again."
For the sixth straight year, the Moravian football squad has joined Villanova University Head Football Coach Andy Talley and Be The Match® to help save lives by recruiting potential marrow donors. This year more than 30 football teams from colleges and universities across the nation are participating in the program to recruit 5,000 new registry members.
Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a life-threatening blood cancer. More than 14,000 patients don't have a matching marrow donor within their family. They depend on Be The Match to help find someone to give them hope for a cure.
The Get in the Game. Save A Life. Program raises awareness of this need and invites students, faculty, staff and the community to join the Be The Match Registry. To sign up as a committed registry member, people need to meet age and health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need. Registration involves completing a health history form and giving a swab of cheek cells. Those of diverse racial or ethnic heritage are especially needed. Donors and patients who share the same ancestry are mostly likely to match.
This is a ten-minute process that includes filling out a medical history form and a painless cotton swabbing of the cheek. Moravian is looking for people from every background so more patients have a chance for a cure.
Since starting the drive in 2010, Moravian has registered 1,162 people for the program and have five known matches over the last five years.
For more information, contact assistant football coach Chris Leavenworth at 610-625-7955 or by email at leavenworthc@moravian.edu.