NHS Peer Leadership Group Hosts A Bone Marrow Registry Event

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School’s Peer Leadership group had a number of students volunteer on Thursday, January 6, to inform students over 18 years old and members of the public about registering as a bone marrow donor with the National Marrow Donor Program.

“I feel people are doing a really good deed for the new year,” NHS junior and Peer Leadership member Allie Duris said.

Together with Peer Leadership members Katie Shirley and Brittany Hawley, Allie sat at a table in the high school’s lobby explaining how the National Marrow Donor’s Be The Match program registers possible donors with a cheek swab process. By completing a registration form and swabbing the inside of the cheek in four different areas, possible donors are matched up with patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases.

“The registration process is easy,” said Sandy Hook resident Kathy Donnelly after completing her own registration, “and it does a lot of good.”

Ms Donnelly said she heard about the Peer Leadership Bone Marrow Registry drive event from a neighbor whose daughter, Ava Rojo, is in Peer Leadership.

“When I saw [the e-mail] it kind of gave me the push to come in and do it,” said Ms Donnelly.

Ms Donnelly was one of the 62 people who registered on Thursday during the drive, according to Peer Leadership advisor Vivian Sheen.

Representatives for the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be The Match Registry were also in attendance during the event, working to register possible donors in the school’s auditorium. Jen Grady and Eric St Peter traveled from the Rhode Island Blood Center in Providence to work at the event.

Mr St Peter said it was great to see members of the community come out to register. More than 80 percent of time, Mr St Peter said, donors are asked to make a blood donation. Both Mr St Peter and Ms Grady said there is a misconception that the process of being donor is painful.

“Registering takes no more than 20 minutes and most of that is filling out the paperwork,” NHS Peer Leadership member Katie Shirley said. “This process is so quick and simple; it’s simply a cheek swab.”

The idea of holding a bone marrow registry drive is new at the school, according to Katie. Peer Leadership’s advisors are Vivian Sheen and Brett Nichols, and Katie said Ms Sheen first brought up the idea of holding a registry event.

“In the club we come up with ideas for our school to interact with our community or all sorts of other ideas,” said Katie.

When Ms Sheen shared the idea of conducting a bone marrow registry drive, Katie said she thought it would be a good idea to bring something new to the high school.

“We got in contact with the people, at the Be The Match program,” she said, and through e-mails the date of the event was set up. A representative from the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be The Match Registry also visited Newtown High School, according to Katie, to go over the many details of conducting a bone marrow registry drive.

After settling on Thursday, January 6, for the date of the event, Katie said next Peer Leadership approved the event with the school administration.

From 11 am until 4 pm members of the public and students over 18 years old were welcomed and helped through the registry process.

“If you are a match to someone, down the road they will tell you that you are a match and you have the choice to donate,” said Katie.

In the past, Katie said Peer Leadership has held blood drives and blanket collections.

Anyone who was unable to attend the bone marrow registry drive can also register online at Marrow.org. Katie said the organization will send a kit to perform a cheek swab at home and send the kit back to the National Marrow Donor Program.