A simple mouth swab could one day save a person’s life — an action that Texas A&M fraternity Delta Tau Delta hopes to promote through a partnership with Be the Match Foundation to find hundreds of new matches for children and adults who need bone marrow transplants.
Will Tankersley, accounting senior and Delta Tau Delta member, said this year’s bone marrow drive will honor Makenzie Motl, a girl who was diagnosed with leukemia this past Mother’s Day. Each bone marrow drive hosted by a fraternity or sorority is in honor of someone who has been diagnosed with a blood cancer.
Tankersley said Delta Tau Delta hopes to register more than 300 people at this year’s drive.
Tankersley said one of the unique things about being a part of the bone marrow registry is that once a person is registered, they remain on the list until age 50. This way, even if a person is not a match at the present time, they may be a match down the road.
Tankersley said members of the public often have misconceptions as to the reality of the donation process.
“Many girls told me that they did not register last year because they were scared that the bone marrow transplant was very painful,” Tankersley said. “While the transplant itself is not a pleasant process and you will be sore for a week or so, very few people are actually matched, and of those few who are matched less than 25 percent actually have to do a bone marrow transplant to help the person who is sick.”
Tankersley said if people knew how simple and painless the process of getting swabbed is and how few people actually have to give bone marrow, more people would register.
“I feel that when it really comes down to it, most people, especially Aggies, would be more than willing to be sore for a few days from a bone marrow transplant to save another person’s life,” Tankersley said.
Tankersley coordinated the event last year in honor of a girl named Rorie that he heard about from his mother, who is the director of Special Spaces, a charity that designs dream rooms for terminally ill children.
“Because she had decorated a room for Rorie, she knew of her need for a bone marrow transplant and contacted me,” Tankersley said. “Because of my mother and how unique the bone marrow registry is, it is no surprise to me that I became so passionate about bone marrow drives.”
Jack Chadderdon, political science senior and Delta Tau Delta’s internal vice president, was also involved with the event for Rorie and said he was moved by seeing hundreds of people mobilize in hopes of saving her life.
“After the event, one of my fraternity brothers and a few others from the drive ended up being matches for different candidates and got the opportunity to donate their bone marrow in the hopes of saving a life,” Chadderdon said. “Those tangible results made us truly believe that this is more than a worthy cause.”
Steven Klawinsky, chemistry senior and president of A&M’s Be The Match, said Delta Tau Delta has helped Be the Match in the past. Klawinsky said assistance from outside organizations benefits bone marrow awareness on campus.
The drive will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Zeta Tau Alpha house. Zeta Tau Alpha is allowing Delta Tau Delta to use the house because of its closer location to campus.