Western Technical College

  Anita Gonzales, a Recruiter for the “Be the Match” Bone Marrow Donor Registry, says “the process of donating bone marrow empowers people to save lives.” She also gives prospective donors a few simple facts to think about while contemplating whether or not to sign up for the registry: there is a real shortage of minority donors including Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, and Native Americans. In fact, only 18-20 % of donors are minorities, where about 82% of donors are Anglo. Of the 20% of minority donors only 8% are Hispanics. In other words, there is a real need for Hispanics to sign up for the donor registry!

   “Western Tech is one of the reasons the registry stays open in El Paso,” says Gonzales. From just the visits to the two campuses in October, over 160 students and faculty signed up for the registry. Gonzales adds that not only are these potential donors possibly saving lives but they are also receiving more hands on training that Western Tech is known for as they participate in the process of swabbing. To simply become part of the bone marrow registry it is painless; all it requires is a few gentle swabs of the inside of your mouth, and the chances of matching all six antigens of someone in need of a bone marrow transplant is less likely than winning the lottery. Stephanie Cruz, a Health Information Technology student, says “you have a one in four million chance of matching someone six out of six antigens for the needed marrow transplant.” She also says she decided to sign up for the registry because “it doesn’t hurt, and it gives me a little peace of mind knowing that I could potentially save someone’s life one day.”

  Remember there is more than one way you could “Be the Match;” you can sign up for the donor registry, you can spread the word, or you can donate needed funds where all of these ways contribute to saving lives! To find out more information on how you can help save lives, Gonzalez encourages a visit to www.bethematch.org