FARGO — NDSU is fighting cancer with a simple swab. The NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program), formerly Be The Match, and NDSU are looking to swab more than 300 people through Thursday, Nov. 21.
All to find a match for those who need a blood stem cell transplant. Previous donors say the process of donating is worth the lives saved. "It takes people signing up to be on the registry, like we're trying to do today, getting that, casting that really wide net, to get as many options out there, just to try to make sure that everybody has a shot, right? Like, if you need a donation tomorrow, you would really hope that everyone at NDSU had signed up," Cole Reimamn, a former donor, said.
The process to sign up is quick and easy. You sign up online or in person, you get swabbed, the swabs are taken into a lab for testing, and if all checks out, they can donate their bone marrow to those in dire need. Thirty percent of blood cancer patients have a donor within their family, but the other 70% need a stranger's help.
"It's really important to swap, because you could literally give a person a gift of life, and that's something that's not always taken for granted so," Kyan Woodruff, with the North Dakota HOSA, said. You can register to donate on NMDP's website ..