Iowa State is a part of Be The Match, a global organization that helps people afflicted with cancers of the blood such as leukemia and lymphoma through the transplantation of bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cells.

Bone marrow, a spongy tissue within the bones, generates hematopoietic stem cells that can turn into white blood cells.

Emily Grote, junior in kinesiology and health, is the president of Be the Match on Campus (BTMOC), Iowa State’s branch of the global organization.

“Cancer patients go through extremely harsh chemo and lose a lot of their immune system,” Grote said. “When you give the blood stem cell transplant, it’s putting your immune system to work in their body, and your blood stem cells can help cure their cancer.”

Be The Match has facilitated over 92,000 blood stem cell transplants to date. For these transplants to take place, they need donors with matching tissue types. BTMOC teaches students about these transplants and advocates for joining the registry to potentially save a life. 

“College campuses are a great place to advocate for this, because you have to be over 18, but typically doctors want younger donors,” Grote said.

It’s important to have lots of people on the registry from as many backgrounds as possible, because finding a match strong enough for a transplant is rare. Grote said there could be someone on campus that is the only match for a single patient in the entire world.

“Only one in every five hundred people who register will actually get to a patient because it is so complicated to do this tissue typing,” Grote said. “You are more likely to match with people of the same ethnicity. That can make it more complicated because a lot of people have a lot of different ethnicities in their background. In order to find a perfect match, it would most likely have to be someone of the exact same mixture.”

To join the registry, you can go to any of the events the BTMOC is tabled at. Registration includes a cheek swab that is sent to a testing facility where they can determine your tissue types. BTMOC is partnering with Colleges Against Cancer and FarmHouse Fraternity to host Cancer Sucks 5K, a running event on campus on April 5. The $25 registration fee includes a t-shirt, snacks, beverages and prizes for early finishers.

Students can also sign up online or by texting “CY” to 61474 to have a swab kit mailed to them.