For the second straight year, SUNY Cortland head football coach Dan MacNeill and the Red Dragons' football team is participating in the "Get in the Game - Save a Life" National Marrow Donor Program in an effort to recruit new members to the bone marrow registry. The team will host a bone marrow registry on Saturday, May 1, at SUNY Cortland's Corey Union.

Modeled after a program run by Villanova head football coach Andy Talley, the event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. MacNeill served as an assistant coach at Villanova under Talley before taking over as Cortland's head coach in 1997.

The process to register is easy and pain-free, asserts Discenza. Volunteers only need to swab the inside of their cheek for about 30 seconds and they then join the 20 million people worldwide who are listed as potential bone marrow donors. Currently, an 80 percent chance exists of matching bone marrow for a caucasian patient and less than a 40 percent chance for matching a minority patient.

Bone marrow transplants are used to treat patients suffering from some forms of leukemia and other diseases affecting the function of the bone marrow. Most diseases, if untreated, are fatal.

The College is one of many schools that have followed in Villanova University's footsteps with hosting a bone marrow registry event.

“We participate understanding the super cause and in response to good work by other colleges,” MacNeill said. “We are in an attempt to give back by recognizing the precious nature of life, our blessing of health and well being. Most importantly, with a profound thought of possibly saving a life.”

For more information, contact Cortland assistant coach Alex Smith at (607) 753-4912 or alexander.smith@cortland.edu.


National Marrow Donor Program Web Site