Life-Giving Donations Needed

Grizzlies Urge Memphis Fans to Join

With the support of Memphis Grizzlies guard Brevin Knight, front guard Nick Anderson, the Memphis Grizzlies organization and UBS Painewebber Private Client Consulting Group, the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP) is calling on local residents and community leaders to "give the gift of life" by becoming volunteer marrow and blood stem cell donors on the NMDP Registry.

Knight will make an appearance along with Anderson to encourage local residents to participate in the education and recruitment drive to save lives. In addition to their appearance, the Grizzlies will dispatch Super Grizz, the Grizzlies mascot, and members of its talented and stunning Dance Team, to perform from 1-2 p.m.

The collaborative effort, part of the Stars vs. Cancer Minority Marrow Donor Recruitment Campaign, will focus on education and recruitment of potential volunteer donors, especially minority donors, for patients with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia, to help patients such as Alex Bell of McKenzie, Tenn., make a "Miracle in Memphis."

Thirteen-year-old Bell knows all about miracles. Her miracle came in the form of a complete stranger, living a continent and an ocean apart from her, who gave her a second chance at life. At age three, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Her only hope for survival was a marrow or blood stem cell transplant. She did not have a suitable donor within her family and turned to the NMDP Registry for help. She has since received her life-saving transplant and is busy living the life of a healthy and normal teenager. She is back at school and looks forward to the future. When she grows up, she wants to be a doctor. None of this would be possible if it weren't for the gift of life she received from a complete stranger.

Inspired by sports agent Darren Weiner, who received a blood stem cell transplant facilitated by the NMDP, Stars vs. Cancer, a program of The Marrow Foundation and the NMDP, is focusing on marrow and blood stem cell donor education and recruitment drives with NBA teams in Memphis and New York. "I was fortunate to have received a second chance at life. I want to allow others suffering from cancer to continue living out their dreams, the same way an anonymous donor provided that immeasurable gift for me and my family. I have called upon my 12 years of experience as a sports agent and contacts in the sports and entertainment fields, to raise awareness nationally of the need for increasing the number of volunteer donors on the NMDP Registry," Weiner said.

Stem cell transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Because the characteristics that determine whether a donor and patient match are inherited, a patient's best chance of finding a matched donor is from his or her own racial or ethnic group. Although more minority patients are finding donors for their transplants, they are still less likely than Caucasians to identify a matched donor. More African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and American Indian and Alaska Natives are needed as volunteer donors, so others can have a second chance at life.

The National Marrow Donor Program and its partner, The Marrow Foundation share the following goals:

• To increase the diversity of the NMDP's Registry of unrelated marrow donors
• To assist patients with financial need as they search the Registry for a marrow match
• To sponsor research to improve the understanding and outcome of unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplantation on a worldwide basis