[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 8, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 NATIONAL MARROW DONOR REGISTRY TODAY SURPASSES 10 MILLION VOLUNTEERS 
                 READY TO GIVE THE LIVING GIFT OF LIFE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. C. W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 8, 2012

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with my colleagues 
some good news about a life-saving program begun by this House 25 years 
ago. The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), now publicly known as Be 
The Match, marks another major milestone today as it has signed up its 
10 millionth potential volunteer bone marrow donor on its Be The Match 
Registry'.
  With a small appropriation of funds in 1986, the National Marrow 
Donor Program began to recruit potential bone marrow donors in the Fall 
of 1987. The registry started with a list of 10,000 volunteers who had 
signed up at small bake sales and community events all over the country 
with the hope that their donation of bone marrow would save the life of 
a man, woman or child with leukemia or any one of 60 otherwise fatal 
blood disorders.
  With the odds of finding a matched, unrelated marrow donor at greater 
than 20,000 to one, federal support was required to establish a 
registry large and diverse enough to find donors for patients in need 
of a second chance at life. Today, the Be The Match Registry is the 
largest and most diverse listing of potential marrow donors and cord 
blood units in the world and has direct relationships with registries 
in 37 other nations.
  Because of the committed volunteer registry members, Be The Match has 
facilitated more than 50,000 transplants for patients with leukemia, 
lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases over these past 25 years. 
Half of the 50,000 procedures facilitated by Be The Match were 
performed in the last five years alone--demonstrating the great 
momentum behind transplant therapy. By 2015, Be The Match plans to 
double the number of transplants it facilitates annually, to more than 
10,000.
  Today, Be The Match continues to grow to meet the needs of patients 
whose best--and often only--hope for a cure is a marrow or cord blood 
transplant. Each of the 10,000,000 volunteers, and every additional 
member of the registry we recruit, represents hope to the thousands of 
patients who search for a match every year.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate and thank all of the members of 
this House who have been a partner with me in establishing this modern 
miracle of a program that has given hope to thousands of families here 
in the United States and all around the world. And I invite all of my 
colleagues to join me in commending the NMDP and Be The Match for 
recruiting 10 million registry members in every Congressional District, 
and for the dedication of its staff members and thousands of volunteers 
to the noblest of causes to save the life of another person.

                          ____________________