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Community Corner

4 Brothers need Bone Marrow- Registry Drive

One St. Louis Family.  Four Boys.  All In Need of Bone Marrow Transplants.  Get Swabbed St. Louis! ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Less than 500 people across the United States have the fatal blood disease, Diamond Blackfan Anemia.  One family in St. Louis County represents four of those cases.  All four of the Murry’s sons, Sean (21), Patrick (17), Danny (10) and Timmy (8) were diagnosed with the disease at birth.  All of the boys will need bone marrow transplants as the only hope for living long, healthy lives.   Currently, less than 2% of the US population is on the National Bone Marrow Registry.  Over the last10 weeks the Murry family has been linked to donor drives at both SLU,Lindenwood University and St. Clements Church .  These drives have added over 1300 names to the National Registry, but it is still unknown if any of these new potential donors match any of the Murry children.   Saturday, April 28 201210:00 am - 4:00 pmLadue Horton Watkins High School Cafeteria1201 S. Warson RoadSt. Louis, MO 63131 Everyone ages 18 -55 is encouraged to come get swabbed.  “To join the National Registry and potentially save a life, all it takes is about 15 minutes and a quick swab of your cheeks,” says Joyce Jones of DKMS Americas, an organization credited with registering over 285,000 donors in the US.  “And 80% - 85% of the time bone marrow can be donated through a process that’s similar to giving blood, ” Jones explained.    In America there are approximately 10,000 people in need of a bone marrow transplant searching the National Registry for a donor.  Only 4 out of 10 patients are lucky enough to receive bone marrow transplants.  And sadly, each year as many as 3,000 people in the US die waiting for a bone marrow donor match.  The Murrys are hoping to use their story, not only to find donor matches for their sons, but to increase the overall size of the National Registry to make finding matches in the future much easier for anyone who needs one … who knows, it may be you or someone you love. For more information about the Murry’s story, visit www.marrowformurrys.com.  Visit www.getswabbed.org to learn more about DKMS or registering as a bone marrow donor.   

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