San Diego Blood Bank joins nationwide MLK Day effort to increase African American marrow donors on Be The Match Registry®

This Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, friends and family of Jennifer Jones Austin will host donor registry drives across the United States, including a marrow and blood drive sponsored by the San Diego Blood Bank at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park on Monday, January 18, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The donor registry drives are an effort to raise awareness about the need for more African American marrow donors, and to perhaps find a matching donor for 41-year-old Austin and many other patients like her. Austin, a well-respected community activist for children and families, was recently diagnosed with leukemia and her only hope for a cure is a marrow transplant.

Like 70 percent of patients, Austin does not have a matching donor in her family and is depending on the Be The Match Registry – the largest listing of volunteer marrow donors – to find a match.  

“Thousands of people like me are searching for their donor match,” Austin said. “By joining the Be The Match Registry you have a special opportunity to offer the gift of life to someone. No higher act of service exists.” 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event is aimed especially at recruiting more African Americans to join the registry. Patients are more likely to find a match from among donors who share the same race or ethnicity. Yet out of a registry of millions, fewer than 10 percent are African Americans.