Iceman Team to host bone marrow registration drive

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Perras
  • 354th Figher Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Eielson Air Force Base will host a bone marrow registration drive April 16 through 20, available to military, civilian employees, contractors and dependents throughout all squadrons.

Sponsored by the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Program, the drive allows military members to register as bone marrow donors to people in need of a transplant.

The drive here is in honor of Tech. Sgt. Romero Rodriguez, who passed away from acute lymphoblastic leukemia in April 2007, said Tech. Sgt. Jessica Clark, 353rd Combat Training Squadron NCO in charge of advanced programs.

"Our goal is to reach out to as many people as possible," she said. "This is a great chance to possibly save somebody's life. It's the one thing that we can do to try to help people who are in need of this."

The purpose is to gather and collect data to be placed into a DOD database of available volunteers. The process consists of each volunteer filling out the appropriate paperwork and providing a DNA sample, which is collected from a self-administered sampling from the inside of their cheeks.

Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60. Criteria for bone marrow donations are not the same as blood donations. Tattoos and piercings are not disqualifying factors, while HIV, heart surgery and cancer are disqualifiers. If selected as a match to donate, all expenses are paid for the donor and one other person to travel and stay at the donation hospital.

Each squadron has designated a representative to perform registrations. On April 20, representatives will also be at the Base Exchange to register qualifying volunteers.

"Every day, the Marrow Program does hundreds and hundreds of searches for matches of marrow, and we're just trying to put more names in there," said Clark. "It's not for us - it's for the people who need the help."

For more information, contact Clark at jessica.clark@us.af.mil or 377-4474, or click here to find out who your squadron representative is.