Painless bone marrow drive set up

The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry will hold a bone marrow drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Pearlridge Center Uptown (Center Court) as part of a nationwide "Thanks, Mom!" donor recruitment campaign in 98 cities.

The campaign says there is no better way to honor one's mother for the gift of life than by offering that gift to someone else as a life-saving marrow donor.

Roy Yonashiro, recruitment coordinator for the Hawaii Registry, said, "Thousands of patients with life-threatening diseases need transplants and do not find a donor in their family. We are encouraging local residents to come to the drive and learn how they could help save a life."

There are more than 66,000 registered donors throughout Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa but more people are needed from diverse backgrounds "so all patients in need can have a second chance of life," Yonashiro said.

The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry is using a painless new "buccal swab" technique to register donors.

Instead of requiring a blood sample, cheek cells inside the donor's mouth are swabbed and the sample is sent to the National Marrow Donor Program repository for testing and storage.

Donors must be between ages 18 and 60, in good general health. People who have already registered just need to update their information.

The Hawaii Registry was established at St. Francis Medical Center in 1989, joining the National Marrow Donor Program to help patients locally and elsewhere find life-saving donors.

Call the registry at 547-6154 to obtain more information or update information or see www.stfrancishawaii.org/hawaiibonemarrow.