Immunologix Labratories is proud to work with Gift of Life Marrow Registry to encourage staff to join the registry to potentially save a life. This relationship has stemmed from an Immunologix employee, Jackson Shelton, who selflessly donated his bone marrow to save the life of a stranger battling Leukemia. Gift of Life is a national, public, not-for-profit registry that facilitates lifesaving transplants for patients in the US and abroad fighting over 100 diseases- most commonly blood cancer. Gift of Life has already faciliated over 4,000 transplants since they started- including a transplant for their CEO and founder, Jay Feinberg. Gift of Life is celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Additional Information:
About donor registriesBecause only 30 percent of patients needing a transplant find a match among family members, 70 percent of patients must rely on volunteer bone marrow and blood stem cell donors who have joined one of the worldwide donor registries. Gift of Life is one of two public registries in the United States, and is a member of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA).
Age matters!While anyone between 18 and 60 can join the registry, the most frequently requested donors are young and male. Young people produce more stem cells, and due to their larger physical size, men produce more stem cells. The most requested donor group is 18 to 35, yet all donors can remain in the registry until their 61st birthday, and plenty of donors are called from the 36 to 60 group! Outside of this age group, we ask you to consider sponsoring a kit to be processed into our registry. Each swab kit costs $60 to process and, unfortunately, neither the government nor insurance covers the cost of testing new donors to grow the registry. Even the smallest donation helps!
How to use your swab kitYour kit will arrive in the mail within five business days. Each kit contains four sterile cotton swabs, two for each side of your mouth. The kit will also have a postage paid return envelope – which may be folded up. Do not discard the return envelope.Each kit has instructions printed on the inside:
Complete all the information on the swab kit’s upper flap. Please print legibly.
Open the swabs, being careful not to touch the cotton to any surface other than your inner cheek. You may want to open one packet at a time. Only you should touch the swabs to prevent contamination.
Swallow before swabbing! This is not a saliva test.
Use each of the swabs in a different quadrant of your cheek, as shown in the diagram printed on the kit.
Brush the swab against the inside of your cheek in a circular motion for approximately ten seconds.
Drop the first swab inside the envelope and go to the next one, until all four are completed.
Once the four swabs are inside the envelope,peel the adhesive strip and seal the envelope to prevent contamination.
Do not remove the perforated section of the flap. Please double-check your information for completeness and legibility. Your telephone number and email address are essential for contacting you if you are a match.
Place the entire kit inside the postage paid return envelope. If you have misplaced the envelope, please call our office to have a new, postage paid return envelope sent to you. Or, you can place your kit inside an envelope and mail it to our office at 5901 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Boca Raton, FL 33487.
