LIVE: NDSU students talk massive success of NMDP Drive

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – An update to a story we brought you earlier this week, students at NDSU saw huge success registering people for the National Marrow Donor Program.

The NMDP keeps a registry of potential bone marrow donors who could be a match for someone fighting some types of blood cancer.

Thirty percent of blood cancer patients have a donor in their family, but the other 70% rely on the registry to find donors.

The students who helped organize the drive said they saw massive success, getting over 700 people to send in their swabs to join the registry.

“I haven’t gotten a call yet, but in the back of my head, every time this event comes up, I think I took five minutes out of my day to potentially save a life just by a simple swab. And that’s what I tell people, I was like “If you’re already late to class, you’re late to class, at least you have a valid excuse this time.”

If you’re interested in joining the registry, you can find a link to sign up to the registry here.