January Is National Blood Donor Month
(Clearwater Beach, FL, January 29, 2018) In 2001, lifelong Floridian Nick Vojnovic joined Be The Match, the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. As president of Beef O’Brady’s restaurants, he participated in a bone marrow registry drive held at one of his restaurants in support of a patron whose young son needed a compatible donor for a marrow/stem cell transplant. In 2006, Nick was a potential donor for another patient and upon follow up testing, was told there were some anomalies in his bone marrow and he should consult a hematologist. He followed up with doctors who monitored his health and in 2015, was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, a precursor to leukemia and was told he needed a stem cell transplant.
Luckily, an unrelated donor match who joined the registry during college was found and with her donation and the support of many OneBlood platelet and blood donors, Nick underwent his transplant at Moffitt Cancer Center in January 2017 and won his battle to live! A surprisemeeting between Nick and his stem cell donor Caroline has been arranged.
6 p.m.
January 31, 2018
Hampton Inn Clearwater Beach
635 S. Gulfview Blvd.
Clearwater Beach, FL 33767
To learn more about Be The Match go to: join.bethematch.org/fl or call Marc Silver at 727-348-5060.
To learn more about the importance of blood and platelet donation and how donors can target the power of their blood type, visit oneblood.org or call 1.888.9DONATE (1.888.936.6283)
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About Be The Match: For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Over the past 25 years Be The Match ® operated by the National Marrow Donor Program ® (NMDP), has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world. We work every day to save lives through transplant.
OneBlood is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community asset responsible for providing safe, available and affordable blood to more than 200 hospital partners and their patients throughout most of Florida, parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The OneBlood name is a constant reminder of the collective power we share to save another person’s life.