A Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive is being held at Western Connecticut State University this afternoon.  ‘Be the Match’ Registry is hosting the event from noon to 2pm at the midtown campus student center.  ‘Be the Match’ says a small amount of paperwork and a couple of swabs inside the mouth are all that's required to join the registry and possibly save a life.  Individuals between the ages of 18 and 44 are eligible.

Danbury State Representatives Michael Ferguson, Will Duff and Stephen Harding say by increasing the size of the national donor database, the chances of cancer survival is increased. 

The General Assembly passed a law in 2011 which increased the number of people tested and added to the donor list, decreasing the amount of time patients are on the list before transplant.  The bill addressed significant barriers to bone marrow testing which is the cost to a potential donor.  The legislation reduced the cost of the medical treatment that would otherwise be covered by insurance as medically necessary in lieu of transplantation.

According to the ‘Be the Match Registry’ every three minutes someone is diagnosed with cancer like leukemia or lymphoma. For many of those patients the best hope for a cure is a marrow or stem cell transplant.  Bone marrow transplant is an effective treatment for more than 70 life threatening diseases, including Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Leukemia and other cancers.