APSU’s Love Your Melon campus crew hosted a Swab Drive to engage APSU students and encourage them to join the registry to help potentially save lives on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 in the Morgan University Center lobby in front of Einstein Bro’s Bagels.

Students must meet the health requirements to participate.

If they meet the requirements, all that is left is to swab their cheeks.

APSU’s branch of Love Your Melon is part of the national Love Your Melon organization.

“We are a part of the nationwide apparel brand that is dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America. Their crew program allows college students to raise awareness about pediatric cancer and directly improve pediatric cancer patients’ lives,” President of APSU’s Love Your Melon organization Daisia Frank said.

“One of Love Your Melon’s nonprofit partners is Be the Match. Be the Match is a blood marrow donor registry for blood cancer patients who need a 6/10 indicator match to get a transfusion,” Frank said.

These bone marrow donations are vital in the fight for saving lives.

“For thousands of people diagnosed with blood cancers such as Leukemia, Lymphoma and sickle cell disease, their only hope for life is a blood marrow transplant,” Frank said. “The registry is in desperate need of diversification because, although thousands of people have signed up, there is still a great disparity in donors from underrepresented ethnicities.”

The choice to be a bone marrow donor could potentially be life-altering.

By voluntarily donating blood, individuals can potentially become a match for someone and give someone the gift of life.

“No amount of money or prize can compensate a life,” Frank said. “You may be a match for someone who has been desperately waiting for a donor or a few years down the road someone might be diagnosed, and you will already be on the registry waiting to answer their prayers.”

“It really is a blessing to yourself and many others,” Frank said. “That is the true impact of being a donor.”