Gift of Life, a stem cell and bone marrow registry will be tabling in the Breezeway to encourage students to register as stem cell and bone

marrow donors and potentially save the life of someone battling blood cancers, sickle-cell anemia, and other inherited blood disorders.

The nonprofit organization will be tabling from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Thursday, however, they do make continuous tabling appearances throughout the year.

The nonprofit organization has two FAU students who have donated to save the life of patients in need and hope that more students can realize the value that these donations hold. The organization hopes to find more lifesaving donors at FAU, which is the closest school to Gift of Life, which is headquartered in Boca Raton.

“There are countless stories of college students across the country that have joined the registry and donated to a patient and label that act as the most important thing they have done,” wrote Christopher Camacho, the director of donor recruitment at the organization.

Anna Wasserman is an FAU alumna who became involved with Gift of Life as a member of the Campus Ambassador program during her senior year. As a health administration, major Wasserman additionally had the opportunity to work with Gift of Life when interning with the organization. 

“I did a lot of community outreach, and I went to events and I held donor drives. I added over 200 donors to the registry when I was an intern, “ said Wasserman. 

Wasserman’s decision to work with Gift of Life beyond her time at FAU was inspired by a personal tragedy her family faced. 

Back in the ‘70s, her great-uncle had been diagnosed with leukemia and none of his siblings was a match for stem cells or a bone marrow transplant. Through an experimental procedure at the time, Wasserman’s grandmother had agreed to participate in a transplant even though she was not a full match for her brother. 

However, it was not successful and her great-uncle passed at the age of 19. Seeing how this affected her family growing up Wasserman is driven to create change. 

“Now that there are registries that are expanding and more people on them, I want to make sure that nobody else has to deal with their brother passing away because they couldn’t find someone to match with,” said Wasserman.

Wasserman emphasizes Gift of Life is seeking donors to diversify their registry as minorities are far less likely to find a donor match. According to Wasserman, just around 90% to 98% of people that are Caucasian can find a matching donor on the registry, whereas someone who is of Latino descent only has a 45% chance. Furthermore, Asian and Pacific Islander descendants only have a 40% chance. Lastly, those who are descendants of African and Caribbean origin have a 25% chance of finding the matching donor. 

Wasserman and Camacho along with the rest of Gift of Life want to seek out young and healthy donors so everyone has a chance to find a potential match. Wasserman reiterates that the registration process is rather simple, just requiring students to sign up through their phone and do a cheek swab.

“I, as well as Anna, are FAU alumni and we are proud to partner with FAU and we are grateful for individuals like yourself that can help promote our presence on campus and urge the support for joining the registry and cure blood cancers and blood diseases!” wrote Camacho.

For more information on the Gift of Life Marrow Registry and its campus ambassador program at FAU please visit https://www.giftoflife.org/dc/fau.

Melanie Gomez is the Features Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, you can contact her at [email protected] or on her Instagram page @cupidfloats.