Come out to the Student Life Centre and get swabbed!

Participate in the Canada-wide University Challenge! Let's get as many young males from the University of Waterloo to register for the OneMatch registry as we can!

Show support for your school and help save lives at the same time!

This November is the Katelyn Bedard Bone Marrow Awareness month in Ontario! Come show your support!

Less than 30% of people in need os a stem cell transplant will find a match within their family. This has left 959 patients in Canada looking for a match from an unrelated donor.

The challenge this year is for us to get as many males aged 17 - 35 to join the registry as we can!

Myth #1 * It is painful to donate! 
... Most donors have said that they feel stiff and it is more discomfort than anything. This only lasts 1 to 3 days. 
Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation 
* Collected from the blood using a procedure called apheresis which is very similar to a blood donation.
* Your blood goes into a centrifuge where the stem cells are separated from the 
blood and the blood is then returned back to the body. 
* May require injections of G-CSF four or five days prior to procedure to stimulate stem cell growth and help collection 

Bone Marrow Donation 
* Collection of stem cells is taken from iliac crest bone. 
* Under general anaesthetic so donor experiences no pain 
* After, donors have experienced mild soreness (compared to falling on ice) 


Myth # 2 * I am not eligible to donate blood, so I cannot register. 

Criteria differs from blood donation. 

A few examples where we accept donors who have been deferred from blood
donation: 
* Tattoo or piercing 
* False positive 
* Lived in the U.K. or Europe 
* Underweight 
* Travel to malaria zone

Hope to see you all there!