SCRANTON, PA— Dr. Ashley Zhan, a resident physician training at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, is joining with the national Be The Match campaign to add people to its donor registry from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 9 in the auditorium of The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice.

Donors can potentially save the lives of people with blood cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia.

The event will be open to Dr. Zhan’s colleagues as well as to the public.

Participants between the ages of 18 and 35 will be asked to complete an online registration form and submit a DNA sample using a cheek swab kit, which is then mailed to the “Be The Match” registry.

Events such as these help to raise awareness about blood cancers and the need for genetically matched blood stem cell donors. 

Someone in the United States is diagnosed with blood cancer every three minutes, according to Be The Match. Sometimes, cancer patients can pursue a cure by turning to a family member who matches their human leukocyte antigen—or HLA—type, and agrees to provide stem cells or bone marrow.

A majority of patients do not have a fully matched family member, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. 

Dr. Zhan and others emphasized that a patient is far more likely to match with a person of the same ethnic background, making it essential that the potential donor pool be richly diverse.

If you join the registry and are determined to be a potential match, you will be contacted for further evaluation. 

The vast majority of people who are ultimately selected as donors will give blood stem cells during a process very similar to donating plasma. 

In 10 percent of cases, donors will be asked to provide bone marrow through a surgical procedure.

The Scranton practice is located at 501 S. Washington Ave.

 For information about joining the Be The Match registry, or to sign up to receive a swab kit at home, visit www.bethematch.org.