Bone Marrow Drive

I would like to share this email that I received from a close friend of mine with all of you. Please let me know (comment, email, call) if you would be at all interested in helping:

Many of you already know about my friend Andrea. For those of you who
don't, she is a close friend of my family's and she has been diagnosed
with Lukemia. She went into remission last summer after all avenues of
a cure had failed including 3 rounds of chemo and a failed search for a
bone marrow donor. About three weeks ago it came back. She is not
doing well and her time is limited. The national list of donors still
has no matches and each of her three siblings also do not match. Her
family and community are hosting a bone marrow drive. This is similar
to a blood drive. Each possible donor would get minor blood test. The
blood will be typed to determine your tissue type to see if you are a
match. However, your name would be placed on a list of possible donors
nationally. If you are called by someone to donate bone marrow and
don't want to you would at that point have every right to turn them
down. The actual transplant can be, from what I understand, a painful
procedure with discomfort following for about a week.
Now, that I've talked each of you out of being tested, haha, the drive is
tentatively set for May 22nd, in S. Jersey about an hour away. I know it's the Sunday before finals and graduation and it absolutely sucks.
I will be driving out specifically for the test and back. I do not expect you all to do this for a person you don't know. My intention in writing this email is to exhaust every possible measure I can take in helping my friend.

A little late, but still

As some of my readers may know, the purpose of this blog originally was for a class project, the deadline of which happens to be tomorrow. While putting the finishing touches on my blog, I happened to come across another blog about Relay: Sigma Chi's Relay for Life website to be exact. I had no idea that another person from our class was blogging on the same subject, or else I would have commented sooner! Sorry about that Gavin, and thanks to you and your brothers who made an incredible contribution to this year's Relay.

After Thought

Hey guys,

I added a few more links to my sidebar, under "Other blogs and websites". All three of the websites (Super Ryan, Coaches Curing Kids Cancer, and Welcome to Camp Jack!) have to do with kids who have cancer, and some have really inspiring stories. Just because our Relay has ended, doesn't mean that their's has...so take a look :)

2005 Luminaria Ceremony

Relay Hope #1
Originally uploaded by blocke1215.

Here's a picture of the HOPE structure that last year's committee (including myself) built for this year's luminaria ceremony. As always, it was a very emotional part of Relay, that I'm sure many will never forget.

Relay Wrap-up

Tomorrow (May 10th) at 9pm in 110 Memorial there will be a wrap-up/interest meeting. ALL are welcome to join. Come let us know what you loved and what we can improve on for next year, and let us know if you are interested in being on the 2006 planning committee.

Relay for Life 2005 Grand Total:

$185,000!!!!!!

To say that this year's Relay was a success is a huge understatement. We surpassed our goal of $175,000 by $10,000! The committee would like to thank everyone who participated, donated, visited, volunteered, or had any part whatsoever in Relay...we could not have done this without your help. I hope that this blog has been useful throughout the past few months for Relay updates, etc. Stay tuned during the week to see some pictures from this past weekend and to re-live some awesome memories! THANK YOU!!! :)