New Indiana law aims to recruit more bone marrow donors - FOX 59 Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed a bill into law that aims to recruit more bone marrow donors.
Senate Enrolled Act 398 directs the state health department to launch a new program that would help recruit more potential donors and educate Hoosiers about the process.
One of the advocates for the new law was Samantha Smith, who lost her 25-year-old husband, former Butler basketball player Andrew Smith, in 2016 after a battle with cancer. A bone marrow transplant gave him an extra three months to live, she said.
“We were really blessed to not have to wait for a match, and then we were further blessed with an extra few months of his life,” Smith said.
Smith started a nonprofit, Project 44, in Andrew’s memory to get more potential donors on the bone marrow registry. She knows other families don’t have the same luck finding a match.
“I had a personal experience with a friend of mine who needed a bone marrow transplant, and I found out from that experience that a lot of minorities don’t have high probability of receiving a bone marrow donor,” said Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis), who introduced the legislation.
Experts say there’s always a need for more donors – particularly from minority communities.
“For a Caucasian patient, the chances of finding a well-matched donor within the registry are about 80%. But for somebody like an African-American, those odds can drop down as low as 25%,” said Dr. Jodi Skiles, medical director for the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant and Immunotherapy Program at Riley Hospital for Children.
Smith considers the new law an important first step toward raising awareness.
“I think it’s not only going to save lives, but it’s going to just continue to further impact Indiana’s imprint on this sector,” she said.
Experts say joining the bone marrow donor registry simply requires a mouth swab. If you’re interested in becoming a potential donor, click here.
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