Ole Miss Student Union to Host Bone Marrow Registry

The Ole Miss Student Union will play host to Sharing America’s Marrow on Feb. 2. Any potential donors between the ages of 18 and 55 that are in generally good health and willing to donate are encouraged to stop by and register. Registration runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and consists of filling out a form and having the inside of the mouth swabbed.

SAM is a nonprofit campaign started by sisters Alex and Sam Kimura and their friend Taylor Shorten. The campaign is going nationwide in hopes to dispel myths about bone marrow donation, educate the public on the importance of registration, and sign up as many potential bone marrow donors as possible. Sam Kimura, 22, is fighting a rare bone marrow failure disease, severe aplastic anemia, and has yet to find a donor for the transplant that she needs to be cured. SAM is traveling to all 50 states with the hopes of finding a donor for Sam and for the thousands of other patients fighting blood cancer and other diseases.

The campaign is a year long with hopes of registering 50,000 potential donors by the end of the year.

Michael Quirk is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at michael.quirk@hottytoddy.com.