RELEASE COURTESY OF KEEP ME CURRENT - WRITTEN BY MATT JUNKER
STANDISH – The Saint Joseph's College community, led in part by its women's soccer team, is rallying around an opponent from another school whose current fight is bigger than any sporting event.
The college hosted a bone marrow drive Tuesday evening in support of Ally Little, a student-athlete at the University of Southern Maine who is battling a rare disease that may require a bone marrow transplant.
Jenelle Harris, the head women's soccer coach at Saint Joseph's, said that the drive helped add over 200 people to a nationwide bone marrow donor registry.
"Even though they're a rival of ours, we still would come together for anyone," said Emily Thornton, a sophomore and forward on the Saint Joseph's soccer team.
Little, who plays soccer at USM, was diagnosed recently with severe aplastic anemia, a rare and serious condition in which someone's bone marrow does not make enough blood cells. According to a January press release from USM, Little may need a bone marrow transplant, however, she hasn't found any family members or people on the existing bone marrow registry that are perfect matches.
While USM held its own marrow drive in February titled, "All for Ally," a match has yet to be found. The effort has spread to other Maine schools, according to Paul Greenier, who coordinates bone marrow drives in Maine for the organization Be The Match.
Greenier, whose daughter was saved by a transplant years ago, said Tuesday that nine schools in the state have already hosted or will host a drive as part of the "All for Ally" effort.
Be The Match has helped set up those nine drives, and Greenier, who lives in Monmouth, hoped that this drive would put them over the 1,000 mark in terms of names added to the donor registry through those nine drives.
The other schools that have already hosted drives are: USM, the University of Maine at Augusta, the University of Maine-Orono, the University of Maine at Farmington, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
The "All for Ally" drive at Saint Joseph's was been led by its women's soccer team and Student-Athlete Advisory Council, also known as SAAC.
Both soccer players and SAAC members were on hand Tuesday evening to help run the bone marrow drive.
"It's really nice that a lot of us are coming together," in the effort to try and find a match for Little, said SAAC member and swimmer Lauren Prue.
According to the Mayo Clinic, severe aplastic anemia leaves patients feeling fatigued and carries a higher risk of infection and uncontrolled bleeding. It can occur at any age, and may develop rapidly or slowly over time.
More information about the disease, and how to become a bone marrow donor, is available at bethematch.org.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
