April 16, 2012

Football Team to Hold Be The Match Bone Marrow Donor Registration on April 18th

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team will host its 3rd Annual Be The Match Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Wednesday, April 18 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.

For the third straight year, the football squad has partnered with the Be The Match Foundation in participating in the Get in the Game, Save a Life Program. The goal of this partnership is to give everyone a chance to join the Be The Match Registry and the National Bone Marrow Donor Program Registry.

"Being involved in the Get in the Game, Save a Life Program is a rewarding opportunity to be a part of something bigger than ourselves," stated head football coach Jeff Pukszyn. "The possible impact that the Be The Match Foundation can make on someone's life is far more powerful than any victory we have on the football field."

This is a ten-minute process that includes filling out a medical history form and a painless cotton swabbing of the cheek. Moravian is looking for people from every background so more patients have a chance for a cure.

In 2010, Moravian registered 457 for the program including Stephanie Pezzello, now a junior on Moravian's field hockey team. Last summer, Pezzello was found to be a perfect match an 11-year-old with leukemia, and she had the surgery to make the donation shortly after that.

"I was so surprised to hear that I was a potential match, let alone an exact match," Pezzello explained. "When I got the final word that I was an exact match, there was no question, I had to do it. I would have never gotten this opportunity if it weren't for the football team holding the Be The Match donor registry drive at school."

The football program registered another 207 people last April for a total of 664 registrations in two years.

For more information, contact assistant football coach Dan Csencsitz at 610-625-7717 or by email at csencsitzd@moravian.edu.