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Want to help a worthy cause in just a few minutes? The Give a Spit campaign, created by DoSomething.org and Be The Match, encourages people between the ages of 18 and 24 sign up to register to be a bone marrow donor for the national bone marrow donor registry. All it takes is some paperwork and a cheek swab!
We sat down to chat with Sheldon Mba, the spokesperson for the campaign. Sheldon is a dance performance major at North Carolina Central University who suffers from a rare blood disorder and is in need of a blood donor match. Here’s what he had to say about his involvement with the campaign!
Her Campus: Can you explain the basics of the Give a Spit campaign?
Sheldon Mba: The Give a Spit campaign has partnered with the Be The Match donor registrar, who targets teenagers between the ages of 18-24 to sign up for the registry. They target 18-24 [-year-olds] because they have the best bone marrow to give, because as you age, not only does your hair get thin and your skin starts to sag, but your skin cells also age, too; they’re not as healthy and strong the older you get.
HC: What’s your personal connection to the campaign?
Sheldon: I have a rare blood disorder called aplastic anemia, and basically that means I don’t produce enough blood cells that I need to survive, and the blood cells that I do make end up destroying each other—so it’s like a big war zone in my body.
HC: What does Give a Spit mean to you?
Sheldon: It means a lot because while I’m saving other peoples’ lives, my match might be out there too. So while I’m trying to save my life, I can save a bunch of other peoples’ lives as well.
HC: How did you get involved with the campaign?
Sheldon: I was in [a] clinic and my mother was speaking to a businessman whose son was in the cancer clinic with me. So he got my mom in contact with somebody from Be The Match in charge of the region of North Carolina. She told them my story, and I did one interview with somebody from Be The Match and they just started using my story over and over again! And then when DoSomething.org wanted to partner with Be The Match, they just asked me to be the spokesperson.
HC: What do you do for Be The Match?
Sheldon: They just flew me up [to New York] and I saw some of the drives that NYU was holding, so that was pretty neat. Wednesday I was in Greensboro at Bennett College. It makes it a lot more personal when they see somebody in that situation where they need somebody to be that match. So that’s why I go a lot of places. …I do sit down and talk to people one-on-one, and it does make it a lot personal.
HC: How should people get involved?
Sheldon: What they can do is text SPIT to 38383 or visit DoSomething.org/spit.
HC: How long does the donating process take?
Sheldon: The sign-up process should take no more than 8 to 10 minutes and the swabbing takes no more than three minutes. After you sign up, it takes about a month for you to actually get on the registry. It’s a very rare chance that you’ll actually be a match, but the more people we have, the more likely it is to have a match.
If you are asked to donate, the process takes about three days to do the whole donation. There’s two ways to go about giving the cells that they need. The most common way is a blood donation. They take blood from your bloodstream and then they filter out the stem cells and they keep the stem cells and put the rest back in your body. Then they use the stem cells for the bone marrow transplant.
HC: Anything else you want to add?
Sheldon: Recently I was speaking with a woman from Be The Match, and she said these words that were really powerful: “It’s great that you’re hoping that people get better and that they’re going to do well, but we need people to take action.” …There is a cure out there. The cure is a bone marrow transplant. We just need a match – we just need you to sign up for the registry so we can give that person who needs it that treatment. We don’t need you to give money or anything like that; we just need you to see if you’re a match. The more people we have, the more likely it is that someone who needs a match will get one.
Check out DoSomething.org/Spit to get involved and run a cheek-swabbing event on your campus, or swab yourself to get on the registry! You can help the organization get one step closer to finding a match for Sheldon and many others.