Colonial is Asking for Your Help!
Many of you know our Director of Human Resources and Casualty Division, Anne Latendresse. What you may not know is that Anne is fighting an uncommon blood cancer called Myelofibrosis.
Myelofibrosis is considered to be a chronic leukemia – a cancer that affects the blood-forming tissues in the body. Anne’s symptoms have been successfully managed with medication for a number of years, but she has recently learned that she now needs to undergo a stem cell transplant, with the anticipated goal of being cured!
How YOU Can Help
Colonial is holding a drive to help Anne find the donor match that she requires through the donor matching organization, Be the Match. Our campaign, Swab for Anne, asks that you consider a simple cheek swab to join the registry of potential donors. You may be the match Anne is needing – or the life-saving match someone else requires!
Please REGISTER and JOIN OUR ZOOM EVENT on April 14th to learn more and swab together! (You may also Register and swab on your own.)
Simply TEXT: SwabForAnne to 61474 or visit:
www.join.bethematch.org/SwabForAnne
Deadline to Register for our ZOOM EVENT is March 31st.
For those 18-44 years of age, there is no cost to register. There is a tax-deductible donation fee of $100.00 for those age 45-60 who register.
For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Only 30% of patients have a matching blood stem cell donor in their family, leaving most patients to rely on Be The Match to help find an unrelated donor and receive treatment. While there are currently 22 million individuals on the registry, the 1 in 430 chance of ever matching leads to thousands of patients a year still waiting for their life-saving match.
You can safely join Be The Match from home – just complete a 5 minute digital registration by clicking HERE and request a cheek swab kit be mailed to you.
If you have questions about the donor process and what it means to donate the blood stem cells that Anne needs, you can learn all about the process HERE.
You may find you are the one and only match for someone who doesn’t have one in their family. Watch this one-minute video about how the matching process works and about the two different ways to donate HERE.