When Emmy Moore found out her friend needed stem cells for a lifesaving cancer treatment, she sprung into action.
Moore and others have organized a swab event set for this Saturday at the Pine Centre Mall with the aim of getting more Prince George residents onto the stem cell and bone marrow donor lists to increase the chances of needy patients finding a match.
"When your friend gets diagnosed with cancer, you feel very powerless," Moore said. "You can't fight on your own, you can't work harder and make it go away, you can't raise awareness and make it go away, when we found out she needed a donor that's one thing that we could do."
With a simple cheek swab, those eligible to donate can add their name and profile to the registry and perhaps save the life of someone with a serious illness. Moore's friend Sarah White, a Prince George social worker, beat leukemia the first time she was diagnosed but suffered a relapse last summer and needs a transfusion of stem cells as part of her next course of treatment.
The more eligible donors who sign on to the registry means more patients like White will be able to find a match in time.
Once the swab is taken, it's sent to Canadian Blood Services for analysis and people will be contacted if they match a recipient.
If someone is an eligible donor, they could be asked to undergo one of two different procedures to donate their stem cells. Bone marrow cells are extracted through a day surgery procedure, while the peripheral blood process is non-surgical and involves blood being taking out similar to a blood donation, run through a centrifuge and then returned back into the body.
"It's not the monster that everyone seems to think it is," Moore said. "They've streamlined the process for donating stem cells and bone marrow so that it is not nearly as bad as people seem to think it is."
Canadian Blood Services said most patients report some minor discomfort after donating, but Moore said given the stakes involved for the recipient it's worth the time and effort to sign up.
"What's one day of your life when you can save every single day of someone else's life?" she
said.
In order to donate a person must be in good health and be between the ages of 17 and 35. There is a particular push on to get more men to sign up, but woman are also encouraged to swab and be added to the registry.
"We don't have enough men in the registry," Moore said. "Male cells have been known to take better for the recipient, there have been fewer complications associated with them."
The aim of the event is not only to add names to the registry to increase the chances of a match, but also raise awareness about the registry generally.
Those who are unable to come to Saturday's event can order their own kit and do their own swab at home and send it back to Canadian Blood Services. More information on ordering a home kit is available by calling 1-888-236-6283 or by visiting www.onematch.ca.
The swab event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the mall in the atrium near the food court, but Moore said all prospective donors should refrain from eating at least 30 minutes before having their swab taken.
