The Tiger

Media Credit: Blair Paulik Volunteers add Clemson students to the bone marrow registry.

After football practice Wednesday and Thursday this week, Clemson football players registered with the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The team went through the process in the team locker room in the Jervey Athletic Center, which consisted of four mouth swabs and filling out a form to join the registry.

The idea to get the entire team registered originated by founding member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity Trey Robinson. The idea occurred to Robinson while leaving chapter one night when asked if roommate and football player Aaron Kelly would register.

"Alpha Sigma Phi is a relatively new fraternity on campus, and I wanted to do something that would not only get our name out on campus but would affect the most people possible," said Robinson. Through Kelly, Robinson was able to get in contact with new coach, Dabo Swinney. Swinney quickly agreed to the suggestion and within two days of proposing his idea, Robinson was sitting in Swinney's office, discussing the setup of the bone marrow registry.

The National Marrow Donor Program is a non-profit organization that aims to connect needy patients with bone marrow or umbilical cord blood donors for transplants. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, 70 percent of people with life-threatening diseases like leukemia and lymphoma will not find a matched donor within their family, which is when the program comes in.

Since the program began connecting patients and donors in 1987, the registry has grown to its current size of seven million donors and 70,000 cord blood units.

When one registers with the program, his or her information is transmitted to the registry, from where the National Bone Marrow Donor Program will contact registered volunteer donors if they are matched with a searching patient.

"The mother of one of our advisors died because she could not find a bone marrow match," said Robinson. "We want to raise money for this project and also increase awareness about the bone marrow donor registry."

Expecting a small turnout from the football team due to the demanding schedules of the athletes, Robinson was pleasantly surprised to have 50 players come out - approximately half the team. "It was truly inspirational to see these guys that many people watch every Saturday sit down to sign up to possibly help the fans who support them or someone they don't even know," said Robinson.

Anyone who did not get the chance to visit the registry, which was in the Hendrix Center from Monday, Nov. 17 to Thursday, Nove. 20, can register online at www.marrow.org.

"It is important to register because as human beings I feel we have some obligation to help others," said Robinson. "It is not always convenient or easy to do, but I feel the Bone Marrow Registry is an easy way to help others."

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