TORONTO — The first country-wide “Get Swabbed” challenge was held at university campuses across Canada last month.
From left are Jessica Grossman with her mother, Julie, and her brother, Jason, at the University of Western Ontario’s bone marrow drive.
The challenge was launched in 2009 after Dustin Shulman, philanthropic chair for McMaster University’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter, heard about Jonathan Grossman, a Thornhill, Ont., man who was searching for a bone marrow match.
Grossman did receive a bone marrow transplant, but died from chemotherapy-related complications on Aug. 30, 2009.
Only after a bone marrow drive was held for Grossman at Adath Israel Congregation in April 2009 did OneMatch, the bone marrow and stem cell registry run by Canadian Blood Services, start supporting drives. They previously found donors only through their online system.
Jason Grossman, Jonathan’s son, credited the change in OneMatch’s system to his father.
“It’s a testament to who my dad was,” he said. “If something in the system is wrong, you have to go and change it.
“He’s been such an important influence on me. It’s fantastic to see his legacy is carrying on.”
Jason and his sister, Jessica Grossman, organized a drive at the University of Western Ontario in London. It was the first time a bone marrow drive was held there, Jason said. By the end of the drive, 618 people had been swabbed.
“For the one day that we did it in the space that we had, [it’s] pretty amazing,” Jessica said, stressing the importance of joining the registry at a young age.
“As you hit a certain age [50], you’re unable to donate,” she said. “Finding a match is very difficult… The more people who donate when they’re younger, the better the chances for someone to find a match.
“It’s actually been proven that the younger a person donates marrow, the better the chance of the transplant being successful.”
Across Canada, 15 universities took part in the Get Swabbed challenge, including the University of Guelph; University of Toronto, Mississauga, St. George and Scarborough campuses; McMaster University; Wilfrid Laurier University; Waterloo University; University of Alberta; Algoma University; University of Windsor; Queen’s University; Carleton University; University of Western Ontario; Memorial University and University of Ottawa.
Adam Moscoe, vice-president of Hillel Ottawa, said this was the first time Ottawa’s Jewish student community organized bone marrow drives at University of Ottawa and Carleton.
The drives, which were organized partially by Hillel Ottawa and AEPi, added 475 people to the registry – 260 from Carleton and 215 from Ottawa.
“It is essential that young people of all ethnicities join the database,” Moscoe said. “If someone ‘matches’ with someone, they are that patient’s last hope of survival. Only 30 per cent of patients find a match within their family.
“I am thrilled that to see the Jewish community come together, working with Canadian Blood Services for such a great cause.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association; Faith Acts Ottawa; University of Ottawa Health Services; and numerous fraternities and sororities also helped to plan the drives, Moscoe said.
At McMaster, Shulman and AEPi again helped organize a drive. This year, they broke the record for the most people swabbed in a 24-hour period. In total, 1,144 people were swabbed, and 1,129 of those were done within the 24 hours.
“When the solution is something as simple as getting cheek swabbed, I think it’s important we all do something relatively simple that could save people’s lives,” Shulman said.
“One of the most amazing things about this drive is it’s one of the few events run on a campus that everybody can support and take part in, regardless of background or age.”
Indeed, the McMaster drive saw support from many student groups, including the McMaster Health, Aging and Society Students Association; the Student Health Education Centre at McMaster; the McMaster Medicine and Health Society; McMaster Jewish Students Association; McMaster Students for Health Innovation; Golden Key Society, McMaster chapter, and the McMaster Cancer Society.
As a result of the 15 university drives, 5,709 swabs were collected.
For more information on OneMatch or to be added to the bone marrow registry visit www.onematch.ca.
