By Sarah Stortz
Iowa City residents will put on their best running shoes in an attempt to fight against blood cancer Saturday.
Hawkeyes Move for Marrow is a 5K event hosted by the University of Iowa club Be the Match on Campus, as a charitable event to raise money for blood-cancer treatment.
The club is a part of a national organization that helps recruits people to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. Its overall goal is to receive bone-marrow donations for blood-related diseases and find a patient that matches with the donor’s bone tissue.
Laura Schneider, the marketing executive of Be the Match on Campus, said the group has planned the event for three months, with half of the proceeds going to the Be the Match Foundation and the other half going to the Iowa Marrow Donor Program.
“It’ll specifically go to Iowa patients in our hospital,” Schneider said. “We’ve had more students from the University of Iowa get picked as bone-marrow donors than any other universities in Iowa.”
The event is the group’s largest charitable event of the year, with the upcoming one its second one so far.
Olivia Ray, the president of Be the Match-UI, took part in the club her freshman year after witnessing the effect of volunteer work on people’s lives.
“It’s great hearing people come in our meetings, and they’ve actually donated. So far, we’ve had four donors come in and be passionate about this,” she said. “We actually have events where people meet their donors.”
Colleen Reardon, the Be the Match campus adviser, said she loves seeing students can help those in need.
“I’m very fortunate to work with students to help. Even if their chances are low to match, you’ll never know who are lifesavers,” she said. “So far, we’ve had 10 students who’ve matched tissues with other patients. Physicians are choosing donors under the age of 45 95 percent of the time. It makes the work so valuable, because they are [recruiting] people [who are] more likely to save [others].”
Matthew DeBlay, the greek marketing head of the group, had the opportunity to meet one of the patients that he saved through Be the Match-UI.
“I got matched with a cancer patient who had pre-leukemia symptoms. He was a man in his 40s located near the Seattle area,” he said. “Last March, I got into contact with his wife and met him in May. You could tell they were grateful, and it was a big moment. It just felt great being able to meet him.”
In addition to donating to charities, the money will hopefully make the donation process easier.
“It costs $100 registering to be a member or a potential donor,” Reardon said. “We fundraise so they don’t have to pay that much.”
While the club will raise money for the marathon, Schneider said everyone can help out anytime.
“Every four minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood disorder, so what we do is every important in trying to save lives,” Schreiber said. “People say there’s isn’t a cure to cancer, but people are the cure for this, so we want to make people aware. Donations are tax-deductible, so that’s a plus.”
Reardon echoed her message.
“There are 25 million people out there registered, and patients still don’t have a match,” she said. “When a patient needs a transplant, it’s their best chance to survive.”
The event will be located in Lower City Park from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.