Elizabethtown College News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3/29/05
Contact: Mary Dolheimer, director of marketing and media relations, 717-361-1587, dolheimerm@etown.edu
E-town College bone marrow drive continues Kreider family quest
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The first time Alison and Randall Kreider were involved with a bone marrow drive, their parents and friends organized the event on behalf of their infant son. Although Tyler passed away before the 1999 drive took place, the Kreider family is continuing its efforts to find bone marrow donors because "that’s a part of him that lives on. We want to keep going, because we’re trying to help somebody else," Alison said.
Both coaches at Elizabethtown College, Alison and Randall have recruited members of their teams – men’s and women’s swimming and women’s volleyball -- to help plan a bone marrow drive from 3 to 7 p.m., April 22, in the Event Space of the College’s Baugher Student Center.
Participants will join the registry list for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) so that their tissue type may be compared to the tissue types of thousands of patients who need transplants. With an appointment, the entire process takes about 15 to 20 minutes, according to Alison, whose husband Randall is also a system/network administrator at Elizabethtown. "After you receive information and sign a consent form, a tablespoon of blood is drawn from your arm," she said. "Without an appointment, it may take about 30 minutes."
There is no cost to prospective donors, as The Tyler G. Kreider Fund and the NMDP cover expenses. To make an appointment, contact Alison Kreider at 717-367-5751 or akreider@att.net.
The NMDP estimates that a marrow or blood cell transplant could benefit more than 35,000 children and adults with life-threatening diseases each year. NMDP facilitates an average of more than 200 transplants each month, with more than 2,500 transplants annually. Its registry is the largest listing of volunteer donors and cord blood units in the world.
"We’re hoping to get more people on the registry to increase the odds of finding a match for someone," Alison said. "The likelihood of being called is slim, but that’s why we need more people to be screened."
If someone is identified as a potential match for a patient, he or she undergoes more extensive testing and monitoring, in addition to counseling to prepare for the donation. "Even if you participate in this drive and are a match, there’s no obligation to donate," Alison said. "That’s a decision you make later."
The Kreider family set up The Tyler G. Kreider Fund through the NMDP with donations from family and friends. Alison’s brother, Joseph Denlinger, donated to the fund in lieu of wedding favors when he and his fiancée got married in October.
"Family members and friend put the money in," Alison said, "and we felt we should use it for this purpose. We had the funding, and this is a great community in which to sponsor a drive."
At Elizabethtown College -- central Pennsylvania’s premier small, comprehensive college -- 1850 men and women enjoy personal attention, breadth of curriculum, experiential learning and a commitment to serving others. Elizabethtown has been ranked for 11 consecutive years by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top comprehensive colleges in the North.
##
