Nevada
Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF) seeks the community’s help to find bone
marrow matches for critically-ill children in Southern Nevada during its ninth
annual bone marrow drive from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19 at the Zappos
corporate office. The adult community is invited to potentially save a child’s
life whose life-threatening illnesses can only be cured through a bone marrow
transplant by joining the national bone marrow registry, at no cost – FREE
REGISTRY.
“We
are truly thankful to those individuals in Southern Nevada who have joined the
registry to help a child of NCCF going through this difficult time in their
lives,” said Jeff Gordon, president and CEO of NCCF. “Without the help of our
community, we couldn’t make this drive possible so we are asking everyone who
could be potential donor to please join us on our efforts to beat our goal of
500 new registrants at this year’s event.”
NCCF
is in need of Hispanic, African American, Asian and Pacific Islanders as more
than 80-percent of the multi-race community can’t find a match because very few
are in the national registry.
MARROW
REGISTRATION date and location:
Friday,
Sept. 19, 2014 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Zappos
Corporate Office (400 E. Stewart Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101)
A
marrow or blood cell transplant is a potentially life-saving treatment for
patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases. A transplant
replaces a person’s unhealthy blood cells with healthy blood-forming cells from
a volunteer donor. This year, as in past years, NCCF will cover the cost for
those who join the registry. Doing so is as simple as having a swab of cheek
cells which is taken and tested to determine the donor’s tissue type. No needles or blood draws are involved.
Potential
donors, between the ages of 18 and 40 years old, who meet the health
guidelines, visit www.marrow.org, to complete a brief health questionnaire and
consent form to be listed on the registry.
For
those who are unable to join the donor registry, NCCF will accept monetary
donations to cover the cost of the transplants which can be a burden on a
family in need.
For
additional information about NCCF and details regarding bone marrow donations, please
call 702.735.8434 or visit www.nvccf.org. Follow NCCF on Facebook and Twitter.
About
the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation:
Celebrating
its 21st anniversary this year, the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation is a
non-profit organization established in 1993, which offers over 50 programs and
services including a variety of educational services, financial support and
counseling for critically-ill children and their families living in Southern
Nevada. The foundation's mission is to
work side by side with the medical community to provide social, emotional,
educational, financial and psychological support services and programs to
families of ALL children diagnosed with a life threatening or critical illness
such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell, hemophilia, renal disorders and other
immunologic diseases as well as to adults touched by cancer. Contact the Nevada
Childhood Cancer Foundation at 702-735-8434 or visit them at www.nvccf.org for
pediatric services and www.thecaringplacenv.org for services for adults touched
by cancer.
