Bone Marrow Drive Will Take Place 9/19 In Las Vegas

Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation (NCCF) seeks the community’s help to find bone marrow matches for critically-ill children in Southern Nevada during its ninth annual bone marrow drive from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19 at the Zappos corporate office. The adult community is invited to potentially save a child’s life whose life-threatening illnesses can only be cured through a bone marrow transplant by joining the national bone marrow registry, at no cost – FREE REGISTRY.

“We are truly thankful to those individuals in Southern Nevada who have joined the registry to help a child of NCCF going through this difficult time in their lives,” said Jeff Gordon, president and CEO of NCCF. “Without the help of our community, we couldn’t make this drive possible so we are asking everyone who could be potential donor to please join us on our efforts to beat our goal of 500 new registrants at this year’s event.”

NCCF is in need of Hispanic, African American, Asian and Pacific Islanders as more than 80-percent of the multi-race community can’t find a match because very few are in the national registry.

MARROW REGISTRATION date and location:

Friday, Sept. 19, 2014 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Zappos Corporate Office (400 E. Stewart Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101)

A marrow or blood cell transplant is a potentially life-saving treatment for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases. A transplant replaces a person’s unhealthy blood cells with healthy blood-forming cells from a volunteer donor. This year, as in past years, NCCF will cover the cost for those who join the registry. Doing so is as simple as having a swab of cheek cells which is taken and tested to determine the donor’s tissue type.   No needles or blood draws are involved.

Potential donors, between the ages of 18 and 40 years old, who meet the health guidelines, visit www.marrow.org, to complete a brief health questionnaire and consent form to be listed on the registry.

For those who are unable to join the donor registry, NCCF will accept monetary donations to cover the cost of the transplants which can be a burden on a family in need.

For additional information about NCCF and details regarding bone marrow donations, please call 702.735.8434 or visit www.nvccf.org. Follow NCCF on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation:

Celebrating its 21st anniversary this year, the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1993, which offers over 50 programs and services including a variety of educational services, financial support and counseling for critically-ill children and their families living in Southern Nevada.  The foundation's mission is to work side by side with the medical community to provide social, emotional, educational, financial and psychological support services and programs to families of ALL children diagnosed with a life threatening or critical illness such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell, hemophilia, renal disorders and other immunologic diseases as well as to adults touched by cancer. Contact the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation at 702-735-8434 or visit them at www.nvccf.org for pediatric services and www.thecaringplacenv.org for services for adults touched by cancer.