On March 25th, University of Virginia students and members of the Charlottesville community will have the opportunity to join the bone marrow donor registry and potentially save the life of a patient fighting blood cancer. Sharing America’s Marrow (SAM) a grassroots movement to register 50,000 donors in 50 states in 2015 is coming through Gainesville as a part of their yearlong quest around the country.

SAM is a campaign to raise awareness and register as many potential heroes as possible to the donor registry. Co-founder Sam Kimura is fighting a rare bone marrow failure disease and has yet to find a donor for the transplant that she needs to cure her disease. The SAM team is travelling to all 50 states this year to find a donor for Sam and for the thousands of other patients waiting for a life saving transplant. 

SAM will be signing up donors in the UVA Chemistry Building Lobby on March 25th from 11:00am-2:00pm. To register, you must be between the ages of 18 and 55, in general good health, and willing to donate to any patient in need. Signing up is easy- all it takes is filling out a short consent form and swabbing the inside of the mouth. If you were called to be a donor, you could be the one person in the world that could save that patient's life. Most often the donation process is similar to donating platelets or plasma. Stop by the SAM table to learn more about the donor registry and also receive a 15% off coupon to Crozet Pizza.

To learn more about the SAM campaign and the registration and donation process, please visit www.sharemarrow.com