Football players register with bone marrow donor program

Members of the Laker football team registered to be bone marrow donors and potentially save a life during a Michigan Blood event March 1 at the GVSU Football Center.

Darcie Beebe, mother of tight end Colin Beebe, approached head coach Matt Mitchell with the idea of registering players last fall. Beebe is a transplant coordinator for Spectrum Health Cancer Center. 

The registration process was simple: players swabbed the insides of their cheeks and filled out a questionnaire. Donors are then entered into a database and contacted if they match a patient.  

A Michigan Blood representative said volunteer donors are in high demand, as a suitable match for a patient who needs a transplant is found outside that patient's family 70 percent of the time.

Before registering, players heard from Grand Rapids resident Perry Cheathem, who underwent a stem cell transplant in June after suffering from T-cell lymphoma. Cheathem, 47, said the transplant was life-changing.

"It's life-changing as to how I think and how I live each day," he said.

Spectrum Health Cancer Center is the only adult blood and marrow transplant program in West Michigan. Donors are needed for adult and pediatric programs.