The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas (CBCC) and Be The Match have expanded their longtime partnership to now include all five CBCC donation centers as designated locations for The Be The Match to Go Kits.

Since 2006, CBCC and Be The Match have teamed up to host joint blood donation and marrow registration drives. Through this expanded partnership, blood donors and visitors at CBCC’s centers – Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia, Greensboro and Hickory – can join the registry and get their cheek cells swabbed.

“We appreciate the ongoing support of the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas in helping raise awareness about and participation in the Be The Match Registry,” said Addie Sanders, Community Engagement Representative at Be The Match of Southeast. “Designating all five of their centers as Be The Match To Go locations will help us increase potential marrow matches and continue to give patients hope.”

According to Be The Match, a bone marrow transplant can be a cure for patients in need of lifesaving transplants. Only 30 percent of patients find a match within their family, leaving many to depend on the Be The Match Registry® – the world’s largest registry of potential marrow donors – to find a match.

“We are honored to be selected as official sites for the Be The Match To Go Kits and to involve all of our donor centers throughout the region in helping grow the Registry and increase the chance of finding a match for a bone marrow patient in need,” said Martin Grable, president and CEO of the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas. “Since blood and bone marrow go hand in hand, we see this partnership as a natural fit to help increase the number of potential Registry participants and to help save lives.”

A person of any race, ethnicity or gender who is 18 to 44 years old and who meets health guidelines can become a potential volunteer bone marrow donor. Once listed on the Be The Match Registry, the donor’s tissue type will be compared to the tissue types of thousands of patients around the world who are searching for a matching donor. A marrow or blood stem cell transplant is used to cure over 70 different diseases, many of them cancer.

Any potential marrow or peripheral (circulating) blood donor who joins the Be The Match registry at CBCC can pick up a To Go kit that includes:

• Information about marrow and peripheral (circulating) blood cell (PBSC) donation processes

• A brief health questionnaire

• A swab packet for a cheek cell sample, which is tested to determine your tissue type

• A Consent Form to authorize your tissue type to be listed on the Be The Match Registry.

Simply complete everything and mail it back the local Be The Match office for processing.

For questions, contact: Addie Sanders 704-942-6971.

About Be The Match®

Be The Match helps patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other diseases who need a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. People can join the Be The Match Registry® – the world’s largest listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood units – contribute financially and volunteer. Patients and their families can also turn to Be The Match for support and resources before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), a nonprofit organization that matches patients with donors, educates health care professionals and conducts research so more lives can be saved. For more information, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.

About Community Blood Center of the Carolinas

The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas (CBCC) is a non-profit community-based blood center and the primary blood supplier to 27 regional hospitals, serving 19 North Carolina and three South Carolina counties. CBCC focuses exclusively on gathering red blood cells, platelets and plasma from volunteer donors to save local lives here in the Carolinas. Every drop stays here, saving local lives. CBCC is a member of America’s Blood Centers, North America’s largest network of community-based, independent blood centers providing more than 50% of the nation’s blood supply.

For more information on hosting a blood drive or donating blood in your area, visit www.cbcc.us or call 704-972-4700.

Follow the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BloodCenter and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CBCCarolinas.