15 Minutes to Save a Life

When the topic of organ donation is discussed, most individuals do not realize you can be a live donor. During the ONU Bone Marrow Registration Day, some members of the ONU Do It Now! team decided to register to become bone marrow donors; this details my experience of entering the national database.

Like most people, I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up to become a bone marrow donor. However, the process was incredibly easy. I had to fill out an application, which consisted of confidential information and a few questions about my health, such as height and weight. This part of the process took the most time, as you need two contacts and to think about your health.

After my application was screened and approved, I walked to the next station. While at this station, I was informed of what I had to do: “Take these two cotton swabs and roll them around in between your cheeks and gums for 10 seconds on the top first. Once you do this, do the bottom ones and you’re all done.” Honestly, the hardest part of this stage was getting the swabs back into the foam slots and not drooling all over my chin. After I handed the package containing the swabs back to the worker, I was done.

Entering the national database as a registered bone marrow donor was easy and only took about 15 minutes with a wait. However, becoming a registered organ donor is even easier. All you need to do is attend an ONU Do It Now! event with your driver’s license and then you can register with a team member.

Wanna Do It…
…Do It Now!

And just in case you forget your license, you can visit http://www.doitnowohio.org/onu/ to give the gift of life.


Written by Katalyn Yenne

ONU Bone Marrow Registration Day

Today the ONU Do It Now! team stopped by the Newman Club’s bone marrow registration drive. One of their member’s siblings is in need of a transfusion, so the group is trying to boost registration in hopes of finding a match. It was a refreshing surprise to see the number of students and community members who turned out for the drive. Furthermore, the heavy traffic in the student center did garner us additional attention; quite a number of individuals stopped by to ask us what we were doing. Among those who stopped, a happily large portion of them stated that they are already registered as organ donors, and have been for as long as they’ve been eligible. Though our campaign was less successful than the bone marrow registration in terms of new people signing up, it bolstered our faith in humanity to see so many people willing to help out a total stranger and become a potential bone marrow donor. Give life.
Wanna Do It…
…Do It Now

www.doitnowohio.org/onu

Written by Natalyn Giverson