Swab To Save a Life event to be held at Berlin Boro Hall – nj.com

Christine Brown-Torres of Berlin is a wife and mother of four. She was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in October 2020. Myelofibrosis is a type of chronic progressive Leukemia which means Brown-Torres will need a bone marrow transplant.

Her doctors are searching the Be the Match Registry for an unrelated donor. Her match would donate either peripheral blood stem cells or bone marrow cells. Brown-Torres, who recognizes that there are thousands of other patients like her in desperate need of a match hopes people are inspired to not only help her, but help someone in the same situation as her.

The Icla da Silva Foundation, recruitment center for Be The Match, is inviting residents of Berlin and surrounding communities to a drive-thru, no-touch swabbing event. Individuals ages 18 to 44 years old are asked to attend the event, where they can join the Be The Match Registry. The event will be held on Saturday, May 22 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Berlin Boro Hall, 59 South White Horse Pike, Berlin.

Participants will be instructed to register from their mobile phones and will be given a cheek swab to swab their inner cheek all from the comfort of their car. Registered members will only be called for further testing if they are identified as a potential match for a patient in need of a transplant.

Those unable to attend the event can visit join.BeTheMatch.org/match4chrissie or text match4chrissie (one word) to 61474 to receive a cheek swab kit at their home.

Be The Match, a nonprofit that services the largest marrow registry in the United States, has facilitated more than 100,000 marrow and cord blood transplants. The Icla da Silva Foundation is a recruitment center for the Be The Match Registry. It recruits more than 38,000 new potential bone marrow donors every year, with a strong focus on minority communities.

For more information, contact Lauren Hero at the Icla da Silva Foundation, at 973-647-5845 or lauren@icla.org.

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Swab To Save a Life event to be held at Berlin Boro Hall - nj.com