Employees at PP&L, Inc.'s Susquehanna plant held their second bone marrow registration day Thursday, October 28, and added 125 more of the plant's employees to the National Marrow Registry Program.
The 125 new volunteers bring the total of participating Susquehanna employees to 542, more than 50 percent the plant's workforce. Three of those who registered during a 1994 drive have already provided marrow to needy recipients.
The campaign allows employees to register in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). The NMDP maintains a registry of more than 3 million volunteer donors and offers patient services including matches between potential donors and non-related patients, nationwide.
Susquehanna's campaign is part of PP&L's company-wide effort to increase the number of donors in the national registry.
"We are happy to support this important program and proud that so many PP&L employees have responded to this call for help," says Luis Ramos, PP&L manager of community affairs.
"As our business becomes larger, so does our sense of community and what it means to actively help our neighbors in need - whoever they are and wherever they may live."
During PP&L, Inc.'s 1994 recruitment, over 2,100 employees became potential donors. Since then, 20 PP&L volunteers have been matched with patients and more are now completing final testing. One PP&L donor, a Susquehanna employee, has already provided life-saving marrow to two different patients.
"This is a significantly higher rate of success than the total numbers of volunteers would indicate," said Jason Gangewere, bone marrow donor coordinator for the Red Cross of Philadelphia, who worked with PP&L's 1994 recruitment campaign, "It can't be medically explained; it's just plain good luck. In our corporate donation program, PP&L, Inc. is one of the largest supporters in the area."
More than 100 patients receive marrow transplants through the NMDP each month, but several times that many remain in need.
Each year, more than 16,000 children and adults are diagnosed with leukemia, severe aplastic anemia or other fatal blood diseases. Without a bone marrow transplant, their long-term rate of survival is 0 to 15 percent. A marrow transplant can improve those odds to 30 to 80 percent.