• National Marrow Donor Program Website

NEWARK, Del. -- Head coach K.C. Keeler and the University of Delaware football program has joined with Villanova University and the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) in an effort to recruit 5,000 new members to the bone marrow registry.

Team members and coaches from the Blue Hen football team will host its inaugural “Get in the Game - Save a Life” event on Tuesday, April 28 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the UD Trabant Student Center Multi-purpose room where University of Delaware students, staff, and faculty as well as members of the community have the opportunity to join the registry.
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Thousands of patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases depend on the NMDP Registry to find a match. Donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are especially critical as patients in need of a transplant are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity.

Villanova head coach Andy Talley has dedicated more than 15 years to raising awareness about the need for marrow donors. He has recruited thousands of members to the registry by encouraging his football team and their friends to join. Talley aims to increase the likelihood that all patients receive the life-saving transplant they need. In addition to University of Delaware, more than 24 college football programs are participating in the program.

“This is one of several community projects that our team is involved with and I’m proud of the hard work and initiative that they have shown,” said Keeler. “Coach Talley has done a tremendous job of raising awareness of marrow donors over the years. The goal of our football program is to build on that and raise awareness of a great cause throughout the state of Delaware and in the region. We hope that our fans and supporters will come out and support this cause as well. I know that I’ll be the first one in line.”

The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and cord blood transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. The NMDP connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. For more information visit www.marrow.org.

For additional information, contact UD football graduate intern Curtis Powell at 302-831-2949 or at cnpowell3@yahoo.com or Juliette Williams of the National Marrow Donor Program at 1-800-MARROW2 or by email at jwillia2@nmdp.org.