Community Pulls Together For Bone Marrow Drive

By Adddison Speck, Reporter

Tools

By Katie Stinson

Story Created: Jan 28, 2012 at 11:56 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jan 29, 2012 at 9:26 AM CDT

DYERSVILLE, Iowa - An Eastern Iowan community spent their Saturday registering to be a match.

Hundreds participated in a bone marrow drive inspired by 8-year-old Ryan Burchard, who is battling leukemia. The more people on the list, the better odds of finding a match for Burchard.

“This is only one simple way that you can help someone. I may not be helping Ryan but if I can save the life of a child or an adult, its just so important,” Gloria Bockenstedt, Ryan’s great aunt said.

For the nearly 10 thousand patients battling life threatening illnesses each year, only about half of them find a match for a bone marrow transplant. So when the community of Dyersville heard about Burchard’s leukemia diagnosis they were inspired to host a bone marrow registry drive.

“Ryan is well known in the community, everyone wanted to do something. So I had lots of people calling,” Lynn Steger, of Dyersville said.

“I say this over and over that if I lived in a bigger city, you wouldn’t have this. Some people don’t like living in a small town, but even though you’re not blood relatives, your family here,” said Bockenstedt.

Registering to be a donor is just four steps: First, you read over the guidelines to make sure you can register. Then you fill out the paperwork. After that, someone looks at your paperwork. The Last step, is possibly the easiest, a simple swab of the mouth.

“I had people come in today and as we are swabbing they say, oh this is all I have to do?” Bockenstedt said.

“It’s important, if we match one child today, that’s hope for one child,” Steger said.

The small town is hoping to make a big impact, not just for one of their own, but anyone in need.

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