This Mother's Day, Join the National Marrow Donor Program's Thanks Mom Marrow Donor Drive

Starting May 5 until the 19th, 2008

Join free for a limited time. The test kits are available on a first come first serve basis...so to order ASAP starting May 5th!

In honor of Mother’s Day, people from across the country will be working together with one goal in mind: to save lives. This May 5th through the 19th, be part of the National Donor Program's Thanks Mom Marrow Donor Drive and help us reach our goal of recruiting 20,000 new donors during the event.

Bookmark this page to return during the NMDP's Thanks Mom event, starting on May 5. Or find a Thanks Mom drive in your area and mark your calendar.

A simple cheek-swab test kit will be mailed to you for FREE!

For many, the inspiration is Amy Katz, a vibrant, motivated 15-year-old who happens to have an adult form of leukemia affecting less than five percent of children. The only known cure for her cancer is a bone marrow transplant, however, she, and thousands like her have not yet found a match among the 10 million donors on the worldwide database.

Amy’s Army was formed to help Amy find her match by hosting marrow screening drives in order to register more potential donors. These drives have registered over 8,000 new donors and created matches for 22 other patients, but not for Amy.  I hope that you will consider registering to become a potential bone marrow donor in the National Marrow Registry.

Join the movement. Join the Registry. And tell your friends.

Download the flyer and help publicize this drive! (print it, post it, pass it out!)

Did you know?

• Leukemia and other diseases that may be treated with a transplant can strike anyone, of any age, gender or ethnicity.
• Thousands of people do not have a matching donor in their family. They are searching for a volunteer donor, someone willing to step forward to save the life of a stranger.
• Every search conducted through the NMDP Registry provides patients with access to more than 10 million donors worldwide. Yet, because successful transplants require detailed matching, even 10 million is not enough for every patient to find a match.
• The best chance of finding a match is between people who share the same racial or ethnic background. Diverse donors are especially needed.

Sharing the gift of life is a great way to say "Thanks, Mom!"

('NMDP' is the National Marrow Donor Program - www.marrow.org)

Local Central Blood Bank Drive on Sunday, May 4

Most of the local tissue-typing drives are held at blood drives run by the Central Blood Bank in Pittsburgh. Please use Amy's CBB tracking number #Z0020553 when you sign up to also be tested as a CBB marrow donor.

• Sunday, May 4th
  8am-1:30 pm
  Beth El Congregation
  1900 Cochran Rd, Mt. Lebanon
  Contact SStonick@itxm.org for an appt.
  
  

Amy's Army Bone Marrow Screening Drives have been very productive!

Pittsburgher's turned out in droves on March 27, 2007 to help Amy's Army net 810 new donor registrations. The all-day screening drive lasted from 7:00 am until after 7:00 pm.

Most people reported that they spent a total of 5 to 10 minutes filling out forms and using the special cotton swabs to collect the DNA samples from the inside surface of their cheeks.

The 150 plus volunteers of Amy's Army and the Katz family are completely overwhelmed by the fantastic turnout at the Donor Screening at Temple Emanuel on February 29, 2004. About 1,800 people came to add their names and blood samples to the National Bone Marrow Registry. Many were surprised that they were in and out the door in less than 20 minutes.

When you add the 275 people who were tested at the December 2003 Gift of Life drive and the 413 people who were tested at the May 29 HLA Registry drive and the 1143 names added on October 20 at the Downtown drive to the number of people who are registering at the countless blood drives, Amy's Army can say that we have added over 7,000 names to Bone Marrow Registries.

View a list of almost 100 marrow drives and blood drives Amy's Army has conducted so far.

Media coverage

- Amy's Army makes advances in donor search
By Andrew Johnson
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Thursday, March 22, 2007

- Thon lives on with MarrowThon II
By Kate Maloney
The Collegian at Penn State
Friday, Feb. 23, 2007

- Army still on the march hoping to cure Amy
By Virginia Kopas Joe
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, September 22, 2005

- Marrow-Thon's goal is matching donors
By Rachel Loeb
The Digital Collegian -
Monday, Feb. 28, 2005

- Honoring Our Ancestors - Please Join Amy's Army
by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
Ancestry Daily News
February 24, 2005

- Volunteers sought for Amy's Army
By Kim Lyons
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Monday, December 27, 2004

- Singing the praises of noble deeds
By Dennis Roddy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, December 25, 2004

- Marrow-donor search to benefit others
By Linda Wilson Fuoco
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, November 23, 2004

- Amy's Army Grows
By Linda Wilson Fuoco
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Please visit our In the News section to see some of what the press had to say about the phenomenon that Amy's Army has become. You can read newspaper articles and watch TV news video coverage that we have archived on this page.

Add the Amy's Army Logo Button to your Web site

Please add this logo button to your own Web site. Clicking it will take the visitor to this Web site, helping us to get our message out to the world.

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