Yale University holds annual bone marrow honor registration drive
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Yale University held its 17th annual 'Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive' Tuesday, in an effort to save lives and honor a former hockey player who lost her battle with cancer.
The anniversary is especially meaningful, as 17 was Mandi Schwartz's jersey number.
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'To find out that she needed a matching donor, to have the transplant that could save her life, that just inspired everybody on the campus to try to go out, add to the registry, and hopefully find a matching donor for her,' Yale's assistant director of strategic communications, Sam Rubin, said.
Despite their best efforts to find her a match, the 23-year-old lost her battle with acute myeloid leukemia in 2011. However, her legacy lives on through the marrow drives, which have now spread to over 300 schools across the country as part of the NMDP 'Get in the Game'' campaign.
'We heard about Mandi's story and about how hard it is to find a match and we all kind of step up and play our part and try to help everyone who needs it,' Yale hockey player Owen Forester said.
Since Yale started doing the drives in 2009, they've added about 10,000 potential donors and over 100 matches for patients.
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The registration process takes just a few minutes and involves a cheek swab. Anyone between 18 and 40 can sign up. NMDP said for matches, the procedure is not painful or overly invasive.
'Ninety percent of the donations at this point are what's called a peripheral blood stem cell donation,' which is very similar to a plasma donation that many people are familiar with, according to member recruitment coordinator Jessica Pacheco.
'The 10 percent is that bone marrow donation, which is needed for our pediatric patients, aggressive cancers. But even that's outpatient now, it's not nearly as invasive as it used to be,' Pacheco said.
Yale officials said their goal this year is to get over 600 people to sign up.
'We're going to shoot through that, get as many people as we can and save some lives,' Yale men's soccer player Conrad Lee said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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