The Western Illinois football team is hosting a community outreach project on Thursday, March 9 by participating in the Be The Match program.

Be The Match is a donor program that partners with the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation to create a donor registry for persons infected with blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases.

To date, over 150 college football programs that have participated in the program with over 117,000 donors added to the Be The Match directory.

Leatherneck football players will host a four-hour registration event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Student Union and inside Western Hall on Thursday, March 9 for those interested in registering to donate.

All an interested volunteer has to do is come to one of the two locations, receive a cotton swab on the inside of their cheek and wait to find a match to be a donor.
 
About Be The Match®

Be The Match is a global leader working every day to save lives through cellular therapy. For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—or other blood disorders like sickle cell, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with a matching donor for a life-saving marrow transplant. The Be The Match Registry® is the most diverse registry in the world and includes both adult donors willing to donate to a stranger in need and stored cord blood units.

In addition, Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is also a global leader in research through the CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®)—a collaboration with Medical College of Wisconsin, investing in and managing research studies that improve patient outcomes and advance the future of care.