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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale community once again turned out in droves this past Thursday to support the Yale athletic department's efforts to save lives in memory of women's ice hockey player
Mandi Schwartz '10 (Wilcox, Sask.) (1988-2011). The Bulldogs added 682 people to the Be The Match Registry® at their 15th annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive. Yale's record-setting drives have now added more than 9,500 potential donors to the Be The Match Registry
®, and at least 90 life-saving donor matches for patients in need have been located through the Bulldogs' efforts.
The Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale, which is part of the nationwide "Get in the Game. Save a Life." campaign for Be The Match®, offers multiple ways for people to register for the chance to become a life-saving marrow donor. Donors who could help save lives are located through testing that consists of simple cheek swabs.
Yale's drives are part of the "Get in the Game. Save a Life." program, which started at Villanova in 1992 under the guidance of head football coach Andy Talley. The program involves college athletic teams organizing drives on their campuses. Talley has since partnered with Be The Match® to take his efforts to the national level. The "Get in the Game. Save a Life." program now includes 250 partnered schools.
Larry Ciotti, a long-time assistant football coach at Yale, is a friend of Talley's and brought the idea to Yale in 2008-09.
Yale has held drives ever since Mandi was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in December of 2008. Yale's drives were led by the football team and women's ice hockey team each of the first two years. In 2011, the field hockey team began assisting. In 2018 the men's soccer team joined these efforts. Last year the Yale volleyball team joined, and this year the men's and women's swimming and diving teams joined. Members of these teams helped spread the word about the need for donors to their classmates, friends and relatives. They also volunteered to help on Drive Day.
With dozens of volunteers spreading out across campus to encourage registrations, there was a steady stream of people signing up throughout the day at Beinecke Plaza. With two members of the Yale women's swimming and diving team as the first swabbers, the drive got underway at 10:00 a.m. and continued until past 5:00 p.m. At various points throughout the day, visits from Yale mascots Boola and Handsome Dan – along with a visit from Heidi the Yale Public Safety service dog – added to the festive atmosphere. Local news stations NBC Connecticut and WTNH covered the event.
To join the Be The Match Registry
®, an individual must be between the ages of 18 and 40, meet certain health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need. The donor test consists of simple cheek swabs and takes approximately 15 minutes.
