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WANAQUE - Boro native hosting bone marrow drive
(by Teresa Edmond - Staff Writer - September 24, 2008)
WANAQUE - A borough native will host a bone marrow drive at her college in search for a bone marrow donor for her father, a man stricken with a disease that causes his bone marrow to shut down.
Kristen Potanka, a junior at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Ramapo, will host the drive at the college on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The campus’s Residence Life and the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity are co-sponsoring the event.
“Hopefully there will be a great turnout,” she said.
Through the Oct. 4 drive is a reflection of Potanka’s quest for a bone marrow match for her father, who was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) a month ago. MDS are a group of diseases that affect the bone marrow and blood, which in some cases could morph into acute leukemia. Potanka and her relatives were tested for possible bone marrow transplant, but none of them matched.
Potanka will host the bone marrow drive at Ramapo College during the college’s yearly Octoberfest, a three-day event packed with concerts, food and fun. Local blood transfusion organization the Community Blood Services will take the tests, a simple swabbing of the mouths and not needles involved or blood taken. The estimated two-minute test will yield the result that will indicate the person’s DNA structure.
Since the testing will be held on campus, it will be free to all college students. The event will be free to attendees of Hispanic, Asian or African American races of all ages because there’s high demand for bone marrow transplants in these races.
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