Save a life and sign up for the Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry from noon-4 pm on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center.

The Be The Match Registry was started in 1987 and has now grown to more than 10.5 million donors, the largest and most racially and ethnically diverse registry of its kind in the world. Medical advances are making marrow and cell transplants available to more patients all the time. Since they began operations in 1987, Be The Match has facilitated more than 55,000 transplants to give patients a second chance at life. Today, they facilitate more than 5,800 transplants a year. Still, many patients never find their match, and are unable to benefit from this medically available treatment for their life-threatening disease.

Joining the registry is easy. Interested donors complete a registration form and their cheeks are swabbed. If similarities are shown to a patient who needs a transplant, Be The Match will call to inform you of the next step which is usually a blood sample to test at a definitive level. The only way to know if you can help is to sign up.