Bone Marrow Drive hosted by Masuk grad set for Saturday

On Saturday, Feb. 22, join the family, friends and parishioners of St. Jude Church, in partnership with The Icla da Silva Foundation, at a bone marrow drive hosted by Brandon Held. The event aims to raise awareness about bone marrow donation and encourage the community to become members of the Be The Match Registry.

Held is a 24-year-old graduate of the Class of 2007 at Masuk High School, as well as the University of Connecticut’s Class of 2011. In March of 2004, he was diagnosed with type AML leukemia, which relapsed this past November. Recently, Held has been receiving treatment at The Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, and in the coming months will be receiving a bone marrow transplant at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The bone marrow drive will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the St. Jude Church Parish Center Gym located at 707 Monroe Turnpike in Monroe.  Prospective donors will be given a consent form to fill out and a quick cheek-swab test, which will determine whether or not the donor qualifies as a match to a patient in need of a transplant.

To become a bone marrow donor, a person must be between the ages of 18 and 44, meet health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need.

All funds raised will go towards registering new potential life-saving donors to the Be The Match Registry and assisting The Icla da Silva Foundation in providing more extensive patient support to individuals and families with leukemia and other life-threatening illnesses requiring a marrow transplant.

Financial contributions of any size are welcome and are made on behalf of Brandon Held’s fund-raising team by visiting  bethematchfoundation.org

Participants interested in volunteering at the event or obtaining more information may call 1-888-638-2870 or e-mail info@icla.org. Sponsorship opportunities for the drive are also still available. Interested parties should contact 718-360-5799, patricia@icla.org, 203-240-0098 or gheldpainting@sbcglobal.net for more information.