Head football coach, Dan Galante and athletic department secretary Cathy Cermak spearheaded the drive, assisted by Cathy Infante and Susan Gillespie. The drive drew over 80 potential donors, including 59 donors under the age of 18. Potential donors swabbed the insides of their cheeks for cells that were then taken and tested to determine the donor's tissue type. They also completed a brief health questionnaire and signed a consent form to have their tissue types listed on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, joining the more than 10 million volunteers worldwide who stand ready to give someone a future.

Marrow donation is a surgical procedure performed in a hospital. While the donor receives anesthesia, doctors use special, hollow needles to withdraw liquid marrow from the donor's pelvic bones. Many donors receive a transfusion of their own previously donated blood. A donor's marrow is completely replaced within four to six weeks.

Peripheral blood cell donation takes place at an aphaeresis center. To increase the number of blood-forming cells in the bloodstream, donors receive daily injections of a drug called filgrastim for five days before the collection. The donor's blood is then removed through a sterile needle in one arm, passed through a machine that separates out the cells used in transplantation, and the remaining blood is returned through the other arm.

After a patient undergoes chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment to destroy their diseased marrow, the healthy donor cells are given directly into the patient's bloodstream. The cells travel to the marrow, where they begin to function and multiply.

In addition to Saint Patrick’s efforts, St. Mary of the Woods will be holding a blood drive through LifeSource from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25 in the parish hall.