CORPUS CHRISTI — Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo will declare Tuesday, November 1 as "Corpus Christi Be the Match Day".
It's part of "National Marrow Awareness Month". The City of Corpus Christi and Be the Match Registry hope this will encourage everyone to register for "Be the Match" in hopes of matching blood cancer patients with donors.
According to Be the Match, 70 percent of all patients who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening blood cancer disorder need to find a match outside of their family.
Only 30 percent of them have a match in their family.
The organization said patients are most likely to match with someone of the same ethnicity.
White patients have a 79-percent of finding a match. Meanwhile, Latinos have a 48 percent of finding their match while African Americans have a 29 percent chance.
"They can actually do it in the convenience of their home or their office. They just have to register, and they actually fill out a consent form and we will mail them a cheek swab kit within seven to 10 days, and it's just for their HLA type. They mail it back to us and there potentially can be someone's only hope for a second chance at life," Leticia Mondragon said.
Be the Match has had over 100,000 transplants since its inception.
For more information on how to become a donor or donate, click here.
If you're interested in having a "Be the Donor" representative visit your organization, call 361-480-2820.
