In October 2014, after months of extreme fatigue and abnormal blood tests, Melissa Ruffino '04 was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. After two cycles of chemotherapy and four months of recovery, in the early morning hours of February 7, 2015, Melissa underwent a bone marrow transplant using peripherally-collected stem cells from a matched unrelated donor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.
Chi Omega, Melissa's sorority while a student at Texas A&M, and FarmHouse are sponsoring a bone marrow drive in Melissa's honor. It is being held at the Chi Omega House on Athens Drive in College Station on February 27th from 2pm to 6pm. Bethematch.com is FarmHouse Fraternity's national philanthropy.
If you are between the ages of 18 - 44, please consider signing up to be a bone marrow donor. Melissa's donor underwent peripheral blood stem cell collection, a virtually pain-free procedure and the most commonly requested method for transplantation. A simple cheek swab is all the registry needs to sign you up. Like Melissa's donor, you could be asked to be a critical piece in a patient's search for a cure from leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders.
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