Mayor Taveras Proclaims April 19, 2012 to be "Be the Match Day" in the City of Providence

Be the Match and Providence College partnering to host bone marrow registration drive on April 19; Mayor encourages all Providence residents to register.

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Mayor Angel Taveras today signed a proclamation that will be presented to Be the Match Registry and Providence College declaring April 19, 2012 "Be the Match Day" in the City of Providence. Be the Match and PC will host a marrow donor registration drive on April 19 from 11am to 5pm in the Slavin Center.

"Be the Match offers thousands of people across the country - including many of our neighbors - the gift of the future. I am pleased to proclaim April 19 as "Be the Match Day" across Providence," said Mayor Angel Taveras. "I hope that residents from across Providence register - especially minorities who are vastly underrepresented in the donor registry. Registering with Be the Match is a small thing that can mean everything for someone living with leukemia, lymphoma or another deadly blood disorder."

Thousands of patients with leukemia or other life-threatening blood diseases depend on the Be the Match Registry to find a life-saving donor. Approximately 70 percent of patients who need a marrow transplant do not have matching donor in their family. The Be the Match Registry offers tens of thousands of patients each year an opportunity to find a donor.

In proclaiming April 19 "Be the Match Day," Mayor Taveras hopes to call attention to the need for people of color to join the registry. Because tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity. African American patients have only a 66 percent likelihood of finding a match among the 9 million individual donors registered with Be the Match. Hispanic patients have a 72 percent likelihood to have a match. Comparatively, Caucasian patients have a 93 percent likelihood to find a match on the registry.

Be the Match Registry is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Be the Match facilitates unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. Be the Match connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. For more information call 1-800-MARROW-2 or visit www.BeTheMatch.org.