April 9, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. - Five CAA Football programs will take part in the "First and Goal" campaign -- a drive to help save lives. Villanova head coach Andy Talley has been integral in the creation of the "First and Goal" campaign to aid in recruiting potential donors in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry. Beginning this Thursday, April 10, five CAA Football programs will hold bone marrow registration drives in conjunction with their Annual Spring Games.

On any given day, more than 6,000 men, women and children are searching the NMDP Registry for a life-saving donor. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. For many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only hope of a cure. The test is a simple cheek swab -- no blood or needles are involved. The free test lasts no longer than 30 minutes which also includes registration paperwork.

"Up until this year you had to give a vial of blood in order to be tested on the registry," Talley said. "The process now is much easier, where they just swab the inside of your cheek. This is a relatively little-known cause that many people are not familiar with. At the same time, almost everyone knows someone who has had or has been affected by cancerous diseases, so the need for additional donors is clear."

Seventeen years ago Talley was inspired to make a difference when reading about life-threatening blood disorders such as leukemia and lymphoma. Talley, the second-longest tenured coach in CAA Football, used that inspiration to raise more than $10,000 to determine the blood type of 200 potential donors. The veteran coach then enlisted the help of his Wildcat teams, which have produced more than 5,000 potential donors being entered into the NMDP Registry.

The "First and Goal" campaign, which begins April 10, will include registration sites at Northeastern (April 10), Villanova (April 20), Maine (April 30), Massachusetts (May 3) and New Hampshire (May 9). Talley, along with the participating CAA Football schools and Fox Chase Temple Bone Marrow Transplant Program, hope to enlist more than 1,000 registrations during the spring football season.

"I called and asked them to get on board and join me banding together to come up with 1,000 people to be tested," Talley said. "All of the head coaches have committed. This is something that I have always wanted to do is to take it beyond the Villanova campus."

Fans and all those interested in registering are encouraged to contact the respective football offices for specific details on the individual drive dates.

"When I learned about how hard it is to find potential matches for patients in need, I knew it was a cause we could contribute to," Talley added.

Remember the next person in need of a transplant could be you or a member of your family or a friend. Please visit www.marrow.org or www.foxchasetemplebmt.org for additional information or further questions.