Archived News | Return to News Center

February 6, 2007

More than 2,600 flood ULM's Bone Marrow Drive; drive sets national record

A national record was broken and a community was defined by their compassion Tuesday night at a Bone Marrow Drive held at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

More than 2,600 ULM faculty, staff, students and members of the Monroe community poured into ULM's new Student Union Building from 7 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. The national record for the number of bone marrow tests at a one-day drive is 2,500, according to Rick Mason of the National Marrow Donor Program. The national record for a university’s drive is 1,000.

ULM’s drive, sponsored by ULM’s Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and the Office of Student Life and Leadership, honors local 10-year-old James Christopher Allums, son of Chris and Ellen Allums. James Christopher has Fanconi Anemia, a rare and life-threatening disease that causes bone marrow failure.

Maegan Guccione, a ULM junior clinical laboratory science major from New Orleans, helped administer the bone marrow tests. She worked at the drive for almost 12 hours.

"It was very touching. So many people have reached out and jumped at this opportunity to help this child," she said.

Supporters include former ULM and NFL football stars Bubby Brister of Mandeville and Bob Lane of Monroe who made a special appearance at the drive.

ULM, Louisiana Tech University and Grambling State University are in friendly competition to recruit bone marrow donors. At Louisiana Tech University’s Bone Marrow Drive yesterday, more than 950 people were tested. The Bone Marrow Drive will continue at Grambling State University tomorrow.

James Christopher’s parents are hoping for a total of 5,000 people to be tested. If the volunteers aren’t a match for James Christopher, they may be a match for someone else.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with ULM.