Over 350 in Bone Marrow, Blood Donation Project
posted May 5, 2008
The response of the Signal Mountain community to a bone marrow registry
and blood donation project at Signal Crest United Methodist Church was
truly amazing, said the Rev. Mark Gooden, senior minister of the church.
Over 350 people participated in the project Saturday, which originally was planned as a way to do something for David Viens, a member of the church who is battling leukemia. Mr. Viens is well-known in the community through his various mission projects for the church and his work with Walden's Ridge Emergency Service.
Of those participating, 268 filled out bone marrow registration kits and
marrow is done by collecting a person's saliva by a technician from Blood Assurance and the result is registered with a national bone marrow
organization.
"While David is waiting for a bone marrow transplant, we hope there will
be a match from this collection," the pastor said, "but if not someone
else in the country may benefit."
There was a lot of work in preparation for the day. On Saturday volunteers
from the church greeted and directed participants, the Church Men's
organization prepared breakfast and the Signal Mountain Lions Club
prepared lunch, all provided free of charge by the church.
"The Blood Assurance folks were excellent to work with," Rev. Gooden said. "I was truly encouraged by the response of the community, many from other churches. It was wonderful of the community to support this project. David was overcome with gratitude."
The project was begun by a group of people at Signal Crest who decided
that rather than just sitting around talking they needed to get into
action with a bone marrow registry, the pastor said.
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