Football game is opportunity to raise awareness of killing disease.
Fresno’s
Central High School Grizzlies will be fighting Sacramento’s powerhouse football
team, the Grant High School Pacers. But,
there is much more on the line than just a win for Grizzlies Coach Justin
Garza. He is fighting for his life too.
Garza
is a two-time cancer survivor and now the 38 year old is having to fight
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma once again. Unlike
his previous two battles with the dreaded disease, this time he needs a bone
marrow transplant and he is relying on finding a Latino donor. Unfortunately, Latinos typically do not
participate in donating, minimizing the survival chances of this coach, husband
and father.
According
the Sacramento’s Bloodsource and Be The Match registry, only ten percent of
donors are Latino, making Garza’s challenge a major uphill battle especially
since the likelihood of finding a match is higher when the donation comes from the
same ethnic group. As a result, many of
Central’s games are featuring a matchmaking effort to not only find a match,
but to encourage Latinos to become donors.
The
Twin Rivers School District recently lost a student to leukemia, making the
bone marrow drive personal for district superintendent Dr. Steven Martinez.
“This
really hits close to home, and we intend to do everything we can to reach out
to our diverse community and raise awareness about the donor process,” says
Twin Rivers Superintendent Dr. Steven Martinez.
“Our goal is to host a community bone marrow drive at each of our high
schools this year. Joining the Be The
Match registry is a simple process and only takes a few minutes. We are hopeful that our outreach efforts will
have a huge impact and increase the number of diverse life-saving bone marrow
donors.”
Grant
High School, through the Twin Rivers School District will be hosting a bone marrow
drive on Friday, September 5, 2014, during the game between Central and Grant
and are especially encouraging Latinos between the ages of 18 and 44 to show up
and volunteer.
The
process requires filling out some forms and having the inside of the cheek
swabbed. Those found to be a match will
be contacted for the possibility of becoming a donor. The drive is being coordinated in conjunction
with the Bloodsource and Be The Match.
Grant High School is located at 1400 Grand Ave, Sacramento, California
and the event begins at 5:30 p.m.
To
learn more about Coach Justin Garza, visit his Facebook page:
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