A very successful “Get Swabbed” Donor Drive for Wayne Bryan

December 23, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Marrie Leigh Ferguson

The harsh winter weather that blanketed Dufferin County last Wednesday, December 14, didn’t hold back people from attending the “Get Swabbed” donor drive for Wayne Bryan at Dufferin Child and Family Services on Riddle Road in Orangeville.

Wayne Bryan, a husband, father of four and active member of the community was diagnosed with Leukemia one year ago and is in need of a bone marrow transplant.

The “Get Swabbed” donor drive was hosted by One Match and the Canadian Blood Services. A simple mouth swab determines whether your body’s bone marrow could save another person’s life.

Nearly 80 people attended with hopes of finding a match for Wayne Bryan.

Along with Wayne, there are over 1,000 people in Canada who are in need of a bone marrow transplant.

The “Get Swabbed” donor drive hopes to find a match for Wayne and potentially also find a match for the other 1,000 people in need.

There is a narrow age window for donating your stem cells. All potential matches must be between the ages of 17 to 35 years old.

“There were people who attended outside of the donation age range that showed up,” says Janet Wells, friend of the Bryan family. “They then signed up for the next blood donor clinic”.

The Canadian Blood Services were at the event to educate people about the importance of donating blood as well.

People traveled from all over Ontario to donate. A friend of Wayne’s son traveled all the way from Kingston to attend and “Get Swabbed”.

Many people who attended the event were there with hopes of helping someone who needs it.

“I was surprised by the number of people who did not know the Bryan family and had just heard about the donor drive” says Ms. Wells. “They felt compelled to do it with hopes that they’d be a match for anyone who needed a transplant”.

There will be another opportunity to “Get Swabbed” and donate at the upcoming blood donor clinic this February.

Visit blood.ca for further details.