BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team will host its 4th Annual Be The Match Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Wednesday, April 17 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall. Moravian knows of two perfect matches from its three previous drives.
For the fourth straight year, the football squad has partnered with the Be The Match Foundation in participating in the Get in the Game, Save a Life Program. The goal of this partnership is to give everyone a chance to join the Be The Match Registry and the National Bone Marrow Donor Program Registry.
"Participating in the Get in the Game, Save a Life program is an opportunity to make a difference that extends far beyond the lines of the football field," stated head football coach Jeff Pukszyn. "The chance to save someone's life makes our work with the Be the Match Foundation such an important and worthwhile cause."
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.
In 2010, Moravian registered 457 for the program including Stephanie Pezzello, who recently finished her senior season on Moravian's field hockey team. During the summer of 2011, Pezzello was found to be a perfect match for an 11-year-old with leukemia, and she had the surgery to make the donation shortly after that. Pezzello has had the chance to meet now 13-year-old Maddie, and they have become friends. In the picture above, Stephanie and Maddie are together in New York.
"I was so surprised to hear that I was a potential match, let alone an exact match," Pezzello explained. "When I got the final word that I was an exact match, there was no question, I had to do it. I would have never gotten this opportunity if it weren't for the football team holding the Be The Match donor registry drive at school."
Recently, sophomore cheerleader Rachel Knecht, who registered during last April's Be The Match Drive, was also found to be a perfect match and has undergone the donation surgery.
"I would tell people that if you are on the fence about signing up, and I was one of them at first, it is something you should do because you have the potential to give someone a second chance at life," Knecht said. "The process you go through as a donor can't be any worse than the pain and suffering the person you are donating too has been going through,"
The football program registered another 205 people last April for a total of 869 registrations in three years.
For more information, contact assistant football coach Chris Leavenworth at 610-625-7955 or by email at cleavenworth@moravian.edu.
