MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — On March 20, "Be the Match" and "The Icla da Silva Foundation" are teaming up to hold a free bone marrow registry event in honor of a South Central Pennsylvania woman.
Linda Lingle of Mechanicsburg was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She's now in remission, and her doctors are testing her siblings to see if they could be potential bone marrow donors.
However, only 30% of patients find a match in their families. According to "Be the Match", depending on the patients race, those odds of finding a donor decrease drastically.
"Only about 30% of the time does a person have a match with their family, so the odds are against her having a match." Breanna Amborn, a community engagement specialist with the IcIa da Silva Foundation, said. "So we're trying to do everything we can with as much emergency as we can to add as many people to the registry."
The registration event will take place on March 20 at the PSECU headquarters parking lot at 1500 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg from 12 p.m.- 4 p.m. It is a free, drive-through event - so people who go won't even have to get out of their car to get their cheek swabbed. You must be between 18 to 44 years old to participate.
If you can't attend Saturday's event, you can join the registry online by texting "Linda" to the number 61474 and a cheek swab kit will be mailed to your home.