Friday night Bob Jones High School hosted their annual Alumni Night. During this year’s event folks from Be The Match joined in to find potential donor matches for one of their very own.
Brandon Harris graduated from BJHS in 2012. He played for the undefeated Varsity basketball team his senior year.
In February 2018, Harris was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia and Paroxysmal Nocurnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH). Both are bone marrow diseases with the only known cure being a stem cell transplant. Finding a donor depends on finding someone with genetically matched blood stem cells.
Friday night, Harris along with friends and family reached out to their community to get people registered to donate. Registering is as simple as using your smartphone. Rachel Harris of Be The Match said all potential donors needs to do is sign up with their information using this link.
“And then we’ll actually mail you cheek swabs and you’ll fill those out and send them back through your postage paid envelope and that’s what adds you to the registry,” Harris said.
Be The Match encourages everyone to register. They said the more diverse backgrounds they get, the more helpful the process can be.
For more information on how you can help go to Join Be The Match BJHS.
To learn more on Aplastic Anemia and PNH click here.