May 31 2019

This month, Be The Match® and Gift of Life® Marrow Registry announce the first registry-operated blood stem cell collection facility in Boca Raton, Fla. The Gift of Life - Be The Match Collection Center brings to life a new donor experience focused on celebrating blood stem cell donors as life-saving heroes and helps remove an important barrier to a successful transplant for patients—timely donor collection.

Today, the donation experience can be overwhelming for donors. Those who are inexperienced travelers may face anxiety if asked to travel to donate, and the current sterile, clinical setting often creates another source of anxiety. The Gift of Life - Be The Match Collection Center, which feels more like a spa than a clinical setting, allows donors to personalize each part of their donation day and incorporates thoughtful touches into the experience, making the day more memorable and comfortable. Additionally, a donor concierge helps customize each donor’s experience to ensure donation day is seamless 

The new facility and experience provides donors with an event worthy of sharing with friends and family. Both Gift of Life and Be The Match believe this will increase donor referrals as donors want to share their experience and ultimately help more patients in need of a life-saving transplant. The new collection center will also allow the two organizations to be with donors through the entire donation process, sharing in their day and understanding ways to further enhance their experience.

“People’s lives literally depend on us, and we have an opportunity—and obligation—to get them the life-saving transplant they need, when they need it,” said C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., chief executive officer at Be The Match. “By taking care of our donors and honoring their selfless gift to someone they’ve never met, we’re also able to better serve our patients.”

“The number of patients who need a transplant continues to rise, which means we need more donors to step forward and answer the call to save a life,” said Jay Feinberg, chief executive officer at Gift of Life Marrow Registry and himself a marrow transplant recipient 25 years ago. “It also means we need more collection centers to meet the needs of donors’ individual schedules and the urgent timelines for many transplant patients.”

The Gift of Life - Be The Match Collection Center is anticipated to open and facilitate the first donor collection in late July. For more information on Gift of Life and Be The Match, please visit www.giftoflife.org and www.BeTheMatch.org. 

About Be The Match^®
For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia andlymphoma—or other diseases, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients withtheir donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant.People can contribute to the cure as a member of the Be The Match Registry^®,financial contributor or volunteer. Be The Match provides patients and theirfamilies one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during andafter transplant.

Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program^®(NMDP), a nonprofit organization that matches patients with donors, educateshealth care professionals and conducts research through its research program,CIBMTR^® (Center for International Blood and Marrow TransplantResearch^®), so more lives can be saved. To learn more about thecure, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.