Trending
ALPENA -- It only takes a one minute mouth swab to become a potential bone marrow donor.
There will be a bone marrow and stem cell drive from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday at the Alpena Community College Besser Technical Center room 109. Event organizer Emily Lozen said she started the event after she went to something similar.
"I have registered. I wanted to do more and give back more. It's a 30-second mouth swab and we're done," she said.
Lozen said ACC students and the public are welcome to donate, however, there are certain requirements of donors and she has partnered with the nonprofit organization DKMS.
Lozen said donors must be between the ages of 18-55 years old and they can't be an active member of the military.
"If you were chosen you would have to be available to donate. If people are deployed it doesn't work out and it can be hard to find a new match," she said.
She said donors should be committed because it's a one percent chance someone will be matched with a patient.
"It's a one page informational questionnaire. Some of the questions asks about conditions that would disqualify you from donating like any health restrictions such as hepatitis or HPV," she said. "After that you do a mouth swab, 30 seconds on one side 30 seconds on the other; pretty quick and painless. If you were matched they will send you an email and if they can't reach by email they will call. For someone reason information changes there is someone you know who can reach you."
Lozen said that when a donor is chosen, the procedure and travel costs are free.
"It's open to the public just holding it at the college … We hope other people would show up," Lozen said.
To learn more go to www.dkms.org.
Jordan Spence can be reached via email at jspence@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.