News Release July 1, 2009

Contact:
Julie Scott

303.361.2873
Bonfils Blood Center

Bonfils Blood Center’s Colorado Marrow Donor Program and the Colorado Rapids

Team-Up to Help Save Lives

DENVER (July 1, 2009) – Bonfils’ Colorado Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) and the Colorado Rapids are teaming up this summer for a special event that will provide hope to patients searching the Be The Match Registry for a life-saving stem cell or marrow donor. The inaugural Rapids Rally for Donors marrow donor recruitment drive will be held Wednesday, Aug. 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park located at 6000 Victory Way in Commerce City, Colo.

By tapping into the Colorado Rapids loyal fan base, Bonfils’ CMDP hopes to add hundreds of new potential stem cell or marrow donors to the Be The Match Registry. Much like the activities at Bonfils’ annual blood drive with the Denver Broncos Football Club, Rapids Rally for Donors will give attendees the opportunity to meet and interact with their favorite Rapids players, win prizes and enjoy free snacks and receive a commemorative t-shirt. Additionally, the first 300 attendees to join the registry at the event will receive a complimentary ticket to the Aug. 8 Colorado Rapids vs. Chivas USA match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

To join the Be The Match registry, potential donors will complete a health history and consent form and a small sample of cells will be collected, using a cheek swabbing technique, for initial testing. While you must be between 18 and 60 years old and in general good health to join the registry, families are welcome to attend the event.

Every year, thousands of people are diagnosed with diseases like leukemia and lymphoma for which a stem cell or marrow transplant could be a cure. Approximately 70 percent of patients are unable to find a donor match within their family and must turn to the Be The Match Registry in hopes of finding an unrelated donor match. Ethnically diverse patients have the greatest difficulty finding a suitable unrelated donor.

Rapids Rally for Donors is presented by Bonfils Blood Center’s Colorado Marrow Donor Program and the Colorado Rapids and is generously sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program and the Rocky Mountain Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and supported by KS107.5 and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

The Colorado Marrow Donor Program (CMDP), administered by Bonfils Blood Center, has two primary initiatives – to facilitate stem cell and marrow transplants to give patients with blood-related diseases a chance for survival and to recruit more potential donors to the Be The Match Registry. Since its inception in 1989, CMDP has added more than 70,000 potential donors to the registry and has facilitated hundreds of blood stem cell or marrow matches to support patients in need all over the world. For more information about Bonfils’ CMDP please call 303.363.2345 or visit www.bonfils.org.