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| Matt Shannon #9 (right) at Brown Spring Game |
A week before finals this Spring, Brown rising junior safety Matt Shannon (#9) was selected as a genetic match for a patient in need of a marrow transplant. Matt just underwent a procedure to donate his bone marrow after nearly a month long process of interviews and medical testing. The chance for such a match is about 80,000 to 1.
The "Get in the Game, Save a Life" campaign which now includes 30 NCAA football programs to conduct marrow registry drives on college campuses and the brain child of Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley (http://www.talleybonemarrow.org/) 17 years ago, meant just that to Shannon. "I have a chance to save a life this summer.When you have that chance to make such an impact on someones life, you have to step up to the plate."
No other information is known about the recipient and it will remain that way for at least a year. This is to ensure the privacy of the patient.
"The need is great and urgent and grows more so every year," Shannon said. "It is so simple, get a cheek swab, add your DNA to the registry and wait until there is a match."
