First National Effort to Reach Multiracial Bone Marrow Donors a Success

Critical bone marrow donor drives were held simultaneously in five cities across the country on November 9, 1996. Organizations in Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago and Jacksonville are participated in the national drive.

Project RACE (Reclassify All Children Equally), the national organization advocating for multiracial children and adults, the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and local minority communities teamed up to recruit donors. There is a critical shortage of donors for multiracial children and adults. Donors for multiracial people are RARE because of the need for racial and ethnic matching. It is critical for more people of diverse backgrounds to join the national Registry.

“This is very important for the multiracial community. We can help save the lives of children in minority communities. It is just a start in national awareness of the medical issues facing multiracial children,” says Susan Graham, executive director of Project RACE.

Here I am with Mike & Joanna, two of my TPR panelists at the Bone Marrow Drive

Each year thousands of multiracial and minority families with a loved one suffering from a life-threatening disease, such as leukemia, are unable

As president of Teen Project RACE, I was able to host a minority-focused bone marrow drive on December 16th in Princeton, NJ through New Jersey Blood Services. Along with two of my panelists for TPR who volunteered at the drive with me, I learned how to get DNA samples from Donors and enter them into the National Marrow Donor Program. By the end of the day we had more than 50 people join the registry. It was a very exciting and successful day.

If anyone is interested in hosting a drive in their area, please let me know, I’d be more than happy to walk you through it.

- Kayci