Students at the University of Wyoming are fundraising, swabbing for potential marrow and blood donors and raising awareness for the cause of treating and preventing certain types of cancers as part of the National Marrow Donor Program’s (NMDP) Be The Match organization on campus.
Rallying around Junie, a young girl diagnosed with aplastic anemia who was adopted out of Ukraine at the beginning of the country’s conflict with Russia, and her search for a bone marrow match, UW’s NMDP is hoping to raise as many funds and gather as many potential donors as possible.
Junie, the UW chapter of NMDP Be the Match’s unofficial rallying figure. Diagnosed with aplastic anemia, she is one of the many looking for stem cell or marrow donations.
(Photo courtesy of NMDP)
The object of the fundraising, according to NMDP Chapter President Jessimine Jewett, is to get them on the registry and be able to make it as easy as possible for someone to donate their marrow or stem cells if they do end up being a match.
“For the donation process, they usually fly you to the patient or to Seattle, our closest donation site. They cover all of the expenses: traveling, eating, lost wages, you can bring someone with you. They cover all that,” Jewett said. “We’re trying to get fundraising to help these people who go to donate.”
The cause is also personally important to many of the chapter’s leadership in many ways. For NMDP Chapter Vice President Jenna Merritt, a simple cheek swab can save lives.
“It’s so low risk, and people are willing to do it to save lives. I think it’s just incredible,” Merritt said. “And actually my former roommate and best friend from highschool has cancer. Blood cancer, actually. I have a personal connection to it and so I’m excited to be a part of this.”
The chapter also has Junie to support. The young girl, living in Wyoming but adopted out of Ukraine, has become a big part of the UW NMDP chapter’s current fundraising efforts. Despite being too sick to be present at the chapter’s most recent fundraising effort tabling in the Union Breezeway, she is at the front of the fundraisers’ minds.
“If she finds a match, that person is going to cure her.”
-Jenna Merritt
“That transfusion and that blood stem cell transplant will save her life–she’s gonna live,” Merritt said. “She’s such a sweet little girl, and her story is pretty amazing because she came from halfway across the world. It’s pretty amazing that she’s here.”
The chapter’s recent fundraising event in the Wyoming Union April 17-18 is over, but the chapter leadership said that they hope students continue to try to contribute and get involved.
“Please reach out to us because we want as many people to know about this as we can. Even if you don’t want to donate, even if you don’t have the money, just come talk to us,” Jewett said. “Come get a button and put it on your backpack or tell your friends to come join our meetings and get free food and learn how you can save a life. It’s as simple as that.”
For acts as simple as swabbing the insides of your cheeks and sticking the swabs in an envelope or trying to raise some money, Jewett thinks that being a part of the NMDP organization is the least that they can do.
“We want to help people. We love meeting people and helping them, and it’s such a simple thing for us to do and we could save so many people’s lives by doing it,” Jewett said. “So why not? Why not do our part?”
