Former Player Needs Bone Marrow Transplant
BALTIMORE, Md. – A bone marrow drive will be held on July 19 in honor of a former lacrosse player at Goucher who has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive blood cancer that affects approximately five percent of leukemia patients.
Former Player Needs Bone Marrow Transplant
Friends, Family Plan Drive to Identify Donor Matches for July 19
July 8, 2009
BALTIMORE, Md. – A bone marrow drive will be held on July 19 in honor of a former lacrosse player at Goucher who has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive blood cancer that affects approximately five percent of leukemia patients.
Jonathan Haupt, 32, who earned four letters playing lacrosse from 1995-98, is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, but there are currently no donor matches in the existing bone marrow registries. One of every five patients with life-threatening diseases like AML are without a sibling match or cannot find a match on the donor registry, even though more than 13 million people are registered internationally. The only option for these patients is to find an unrelated match through a volunteer donor.
Haupt's friends and family partnered with DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donor center, to host drives throughout the country all this month, including one at Ryan's Daughter Irish Pub & Restaurant, 600 E. Belvedere Ave. from 3-9 p.m. on Sunday, July 19. Donors must be in good general health and between the ages of 18 and 55.
Persons who register with DKMS will be listed on a national registry, meaning they can be found as a donor match for any patient in need of a bone marrow transplant. For additional information, including the dates and times of other bone marrow drives, go to www.teamhaupt.org.
Haupt resides in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife Courtney, who is also a Goucher graduate. The two were married in 2002.