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Do Something: Give A Spit About Cancer

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NYU chapter.

Do you want to change the world?  Do you want to help rid the world of cancer?  Then Do Something!

DoSomething.org’s Give A Spit About Cancer campaign is back this year and it is bigger and better than ever.  In partnership with Be the Match, Do Something is searching for college students to run bone marrow donor registration drives on campus.  The program aims to launch drives on over 200 college campuses and sign up 15,000 new donors.

There’s a real need for registered bone marrow donors in the US.  And you can help.  Leukemia kills more children every year than any other disease and only 30% of patients in need of a bone marrow can find a match within their family. The other 70% rely on complete strangers, and 60% of patients never receive the donations they need.  

Donors age 18-24 are in the highest demand and donations are most successful when the donor falls within this age range.

All it takes to sign up for the bone marrow donor registry, and potentially save a life, is a cheek swab.

And best of all, Give A Spit About Cancer is simple, free, and potentially life-saving.

So how can you get involved?  College students across the nation will lead local donor registration drives on their school campuses.  DoSomething.org and Be the Match will help you organize the drives by shipping free of charge swab kits containing all of the materials needed to register 200+ new donors.  And drive participants will even receive prizes.

So what are you waiting for?  The campaign is already in effect and the results will be announced in December.  

Sign up to participate at www.dosomething.org/spit or text “SPIT” to 38383 for more information or email your questions to spit@dosomething.org

Stephanie is in the class of 2014 at New York University studying Journalism and Dramatic Writing. She is currently a production intern at NBC News, after previously interning at ABC News. In addition to being the Campus Correspondent for Her Campus NYU, she is also an entertainment and lifestyle blogger for Seventeen Magazine and a contributing writer for USA TODAY and The Huffington Post, as well as a member of the MTV Insights team. Stephanie loves Broadway and performing in musical theatre, as well as shopping, singing, and playing the piano. Follow her NYC adventures on Twitter at @StephanieJBeach.