University of Pittsburgh: Get Swabbed

Date: 

Tue Feb 23, 2010 - Wed Feb 24, 2010

- Pittsburgh, PA

The University of Pittsburgh is hosting a bone marrow drive in honor of two members of the community -

Seun Adebiyi (PITT '06) is 26 years old and a recent graduate of the Yale Law School. He is trying to make history as the first Nigerian delegate to compete in the Winter Olympics, where he would compete in the sport of skeleton. In June 2009, Seun was diagnosed with two rare and aggressive forms of cancer: lymphoblastic lymphoma and stem-cell leukemia.Most likely, Seun's only chance for survival is a bone marrow transplant, but he is facing grim odds. African-Americans comprise only 8% of the registry, and receive transplants in the US only 17% of the time. Seun's goal is to recruit 10,000 new donors for DKMS.

A member of the Pittsburgh community, 16 year old Amy Katz, is fighting leukemia. In 2003, Amy was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). CML is a type of leukemia that is rare for someone her age. The only known cure for her cancer is a stem cell transplant. Her doctors have searched the worldwide registry for a stem cell donor and have failed to find a match. But the search continues and your blood might contain the right type of blood stem cells that could help Amy or many, many others just like her who are also searching for a donor match.

Help Seun and Amy find their matches! Take the first step and get swabbed!

Tuesday, February 23rd & Wednesday, February 24th
10:00AM – 5:30PM
Lower Lounge of the William Pitt Union
University of Pittsburgh

Contact: Kelly Taylor at kelly@dkmsamericas.org