A simple swab of your mouth could save someone’s life. That’s what the Gilroy Rotary Club and Be the Match National Bone Marrow Program team at the Gilroy Garlic Festival want you to know.
If you’re between the ages of 18 and 44, stop by the booth and join the Be the Match registry, which helps those diagnosed with life-threatening diseases.
While walking the Festival grounds, Vanessa Valles, of Sunnyvale, did just that. Having lost her stepfather to cancer June 31, she saw the Rotary Club Be the Match booth and knew she wanted to help. Valles, 29, encouraged others to join as well.
“Hopefully a lot of people take advantage of this opportunity,” she said.
As of about noon July 25, about 11 or 12 festival goers had stopped by and joined the registry, according to Rotarian Hamdy Abbass.
But the real story behind the drive, Abbass said, is the impact it’s had through the years.
“More than 6,000 people have registered. But even greater than that, there have been seven lives saved from this particular bone marrow drive,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
This is the 10th year the Gilroy Rotary Club and Be the Match have partnered for the Garlic Festival—prior to that, Rotary partnered with the American Red Cross.
Gilroy Rotary’s commitment to the bone marrow program stems from local pastor Malcolm MacPhail’s 1994 leukemia diagnosis. He underwent a successful bone marrow transplant in 1999 and while hanging out at the Rotary Be the Match booth Friday, said, “I’m here by God’s grace.”
Find the Gilroy Rotary Be the Match booth near the Garlic Festival Wine Pavilion and register to save someone’s life with a cheek swab.
