Gift of Life Marrow Registry to Attempt GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Title for Largest Cotton Swab on World Marrow Donor Day
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gift
of Life Marrow Registry, an international bone marrow registry, will
celebrate World Marrow Donor Day (WMDD) on Saturday, September 17, 2016
by attempting to set the Guinness World Records title for largest
cotton swab. In addition, the organization’s Campus Ambassadors will
run bone marrow recruitment drives at their respective colleges and
universities worldwide.
The official attempt to set the Guinness World Records title will
take place on September 17 in Columbus Circle in New York City at 10:30
a.m. Among those attending are Gift of Life CEO and Founder Jay
Feinberg, marrow donors and volunteers. The cotton swab was chosen to
represent the implement used to rub the inside lining of the inner cheek
which gathers cells of potential volunteer donors.
Gift
of Life’s Campus
Ambassador Program (CAP), which includes more than 100
college students, from Dartmouth to Hebrew University in Israel, aims to
register thousands of students via a simple cheek swab during this
global bone marrow drive. Through WMDD, Gift
of Life not only hopes to add names to the marrow registry, but will
also work to educate the public on the need to increase the ethnic
background of donors in the registry.
“The best chance of finding a genetic match lies with those of similar
race and ethnicity,” said Feinberg, a 21-year leukemia survivor. “On
World Marrow Donor Day and year-round, we strive to increase the
diversity of the Gift of Life registry so that more patients are able to
find matching donors.”
Gift
of Life is a member of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA), a
global association of blood stem cell, marrow and/or cord blood
registries. WMDA is the originator of WMDD. Following last year’s
successful inaugural celebration of the day, WMDA decided to continue
thanking donors and highlighting the global cooperation in blood stem
cell transplantation worldwide on the 3rd Saturday of
September annually.
About Gift of Life
Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
dedicated to saving lives and facilitating bone marrow and blood stem
cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other
blood-related diseases. For more information on Gift of Life, visit www.giftoflife.org.
Contacts
Gift of Life
Amy Glanzman, 561-982-2957
aglanzman@giftoflife.org
