FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-092-07-08
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Bone Marrow Drive Continues Kreider Family Quest

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The first time Alison and Randall Kreider were involved with a bone marrow drive, their parents and friends organized the event on behalf of their infant son. Although Tyler passed away before the 1999 drive took place, the Kreider family is continuing its efforts to find bone marrow donors because “that’s a part of him that lives on. We want to keep going, because we’re trying to help somebody else,” Alison said.

Both coaches at Elizabethtown College, Alison and Randall have recruited members of their teams – men’s and women’s swimming and women’s volleyball -- to help plan a bone marrow drive from 4 to 8 p.m., on Tuesday, April 1, in the Event Space of the College’s Baugher Student Center.

Participants will join the registry list for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) so that their tissue type may be compared to the tissue types of thousands of patients who need transplants. With an appointment, the entire process takes about 10 minutes, according to Alison, whose husband Randall is also a system/network administrator at Elizabethtown. “After you receive information and sign a consent form, you will perform a buccal (cheek) swab on yourself,” she said. “Without an appointment, it may take up to 20 minutes.”

There is no cost to prospective donors, as The Tyler G. Kreider Fund and the NMDP cover expenses. To make an appointment, contact Alison Kreider at 717-367-5751 or kreidera@etown.edu.

The NMDP estimates that a marrow or blood cell transplant could benefit more than 35,000 children and adults with life-threatening diseases each year. NMDP facilitates an average of more than 200 transplants each month, with more than 2,500 transplants annually. Its registry is the largest listing of volunteer donors and cord blood units in the world.

“We’re hoping to get more people on the registry to increase the odds of finding a match for someone,” Alison said. “The likelihood of being called is slim, but that’s why we need more people to be screened.”

If someone is identified as a potential match for a patient, he or she undergoes more extensive testing and monitoring, in addition to counseling to prepare for the donation. “Even if you participate in this drive and are a match, there’s no obligation to donate,” Alison said. “That’s a decision you make later.”

The Kreider family set up The Tyler G. Kreider Fund through the NMDP with donations from family and friends. Alison’s brother, Joseph Denlinger ‘91, donated to the fund in lieu of wedding favors when he and his wife got married in October, 2004.

“Family members and friends put the money in,” Alison said, “and we felt we should use it for this purpose. We had the funding, and this is a great community in which to sponsor a drive.”

This is the third bone marrow drive organized on the Elizabethtown College campus by the Kreiders, with the previous events being held in 1999 and 2005.