BUIES CREEK — Jesse Lockamy’s tale of donating bone marrow in 2014 to a stranger battling leukemia to honor his grandmother, who died from the disease in 2006, has inspired an entire campus to follow in his footsteps.
Lockamy, Campus Ministry’s Office of Servant Leadership and Delete Blood Cancer DKMS have teamed up for a bone marrow/ stem cell donor registration event from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Rumley Center. The event is a new addition to Campbell University’s annual MLK Week of Service.
Those interested in learning more about donating bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells (a process more complicated and physically demanding than typical blood donation) will sit through a brief informational session on the process and have their inner-cheek swabbed for DNA — a process that takes about five minutes. Lockamy, who was 11 when his grandmother died in 2006, registered during his first semester at Campbell in fall 2013 and was told at the time his chances of actually becoming a donor were low — only 8 percent of those of those who are called back as a potential match are actually called on to donate. He got a call about being a match three months later.
“It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” he said. “Knowing that I potentially saved someone’s life and was able to give to someone something that wasn’t available to my grandmother — it’s a really good feeling.”
For those diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or other life-threatening diseases, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is the best or only hope for a cure. Yet, 70 percent of those patients who need a transplant do not have a matching donor in their family and must rely on volunteer donors like Lockamy.
“So few of the people who need these transfusions are getting them,” Lockamy said. “And not many people know about donating.”
A “regular” blood drive will be held Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., also in the Rumley Center.
In addition to the drives, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences Michael Larsen will lead a campus-wide environmental science trash clean-up Tuesday through Friday (times listed below). In a typical year, Larsen and his crew pick up approximately 400 pounds of trash and nearly 200 pounds of recyclables, the most common items being aluminum cans, paper and plastic and glass bottles (old tires and buckets of hardened concrete are some of the more unique items in the past.
For more information or to become a volunteer, contact Abbi Davis, community engagement coordinator, at [email protected]/* */ or visit the Service at Campbell Facebook page.
‘Delete Blood Cancer’ drive new to MLK Week of Service