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.