Clemson student a champion of bone marrow donors
The odds of being selected as a bone marrow donor are 1 in 540. Some people are on the list for years and never get called. But Clemson student Andrew White received a call from the National Marrow Donor Program to tell him that he was a potential match for a 48-year old woman with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The biological sciences major has since undergone a five-day procedure to donate his bone marrow. White was eager to help. Years earlier his grandfather received a life-extending bone marrow treatment. According to Ashley Collier, account executive of “Be The Match,” the most common side effects from donating bone-marrow include flu-like symptoms. There is no serious risk from receiving the injection and the side effects generally go away shortly after the donation. White hopes to save more lives during a future career in medicine. He also serves the community by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, the Oconee Animal Shelter and a nursing home and physical therapy clinic near his home town in Charleston.