SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Local 5-year-old Baby King, who was born with a hereditary immune deficiency known as CD40, has been in need of a life-saving bone marrow transplant, but is currently without a match.
In honor of Baby King and his fight for life, The William G. Pomeroy Foundation and Be The Match in collaboration with Syracuse Elks Lodge #1104 will host a bone marrow registration drive on Saturday, July 14. The drive will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Elks Club located at 3815 South Salina Street, Syracuse, N.Y. The event for Baby King will take place during the Elks’ annual Family Day gathering, which runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Baby King, who is African American, has been receiving treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital and remains in need of a matching donor. Since tissue types are inherited through ancestry, patients are more likely to match a donor of the same racial or ethnic background. Without a bone marrow transplant Baby King’s condition will become fatal.
Currently about 70 percent of all patients who are in need of a transplant don’t have a match in their family. With more than 16 million people on the registry, about 5 percent identify as African American or Black. Diversifying the bone marrow registry increases the likelihood that all patients are able to find a life-saving match. Finding a match in many cases is the key to saving a patient’s life.
To join Be The Match, eligible registrants need to be between the ages of 18 and 44, meet the health guidelines, and be willing to donate to any patient who is in need. Joining the registry is a straightforward online process. Information about the registry and how to sign up will be available at the July 14 event for Baby King.
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is a private foundation founded in 2005 by Bill Pomeroy. The Foundation’s two main initiatives are to diversify the Be the Match Registry by supporting bone marrow drives and helping people celebrate their community’s history through fully funded Historic Signage Grant Programs. The Foundation has organized hundreds of marrow drives and registered more than 25,000 potential donors, producing 75 donor/patient matches. For more information, contact the Pomeroy Foundation at 315-913-4060 or visit www.wgpfoundation.org.
National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP)/Be The Match® is the global leader in providing a cure to patients with life-threatening blood and marrow cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, as well as other diseases. The nonprofit organization manages the world’s largest registry of potential marrow donors and cord blood units, connects patients to their donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant, educates health care professionals and conducts research through its research program, CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®), so more lives can be saved. NMDP/Be The Match also provides patient support and enlists the community to join the Be The Match Registry®, contribute financially and volunteer. To learn more about the cure, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.
Media Inquires
Paula MillerExecutive Director
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation
315-913-4063