Teams’ Latest Victory Is a Record — And a Potential Life Saver

The Yale football and women’s ice hockey teams chalked up a new record recently, but it wasn’t on the playing field or ice rink. The Bulldogs — who signed up 704 people at their “Get in the Game. Save a Life” bone marrow testing drive last year — shattered that total by signing up 921 potential donors at this year’s event on April 22 in University Commons.

“Some people will have their lives saved because of what Yale did today,” said Chris Mulcahy, the National Marrow Donor Program representative who worked with the teams to coordinate the drive. He noted that Yale’s drive attracted as many new registrants in one day as he typically sees in three months, and it was twice as big as any other drive he had worked on — and he travels throughout New England to roughly 150 drives per year.

Mulcahy attributed the drive’s success to the Yale players. “There is no doubt about it,” he said. “To get 200 more people in addition to what they did last year is so impressive because every one of those people from last year was already in the registry. The players couldn’t draw from those same friends, roommates or teammates. They had to make the effort to find new people. That really speaks to what they accomplished, basically starting from scratch. The players did a wonderful job educating the Yale community on the need for donors.”

Larry Ciotti, who has been an assistant coach with the Yale football team for 18 years, brought the idea for the drive to Yale last year after hearing about it from his friend Andy Talley, the head coach at Villanova. He also led this year’s planning committee.

The team members began working on the project weeks in advance. They got a reminder of just how important their work was just hours before the drive, when women’s ice hockey forward Mandi Schwartz — who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in December of 2008 at the age of 20 — learned that she would have to return home to Saskatchewan to battle cancer again.

On the day of the drive, Schwartz’s No. 17 jersey hung on the hospitality tent outside Commons, and the members of the women’s ice hockey team at the drive all wore the Yale Hockey “No. 17” T-shirts that were initially made as part of a fundraiser for Schwartz last season.

Every year, thousands of people of all ages, like Schwartz, are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. For many of them, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from a matching donor is the best hope for a cure. Seventy percent of people do not have a donor in their family and depend on the Be The Match Registry to find a match to save their life. The names of the individuals who were tested during the Yale drive (via cheek swabs) will remain on the registry as options for a life-saving marrow donation until they reach the age of 61.

While many of the people who showed up at the Yale drive had already heard about the event through stories like Schwartz’s, the Bulldogs also worked hard to educate everyone who passed by about how important taking 15 minutes to get their cheeks swabbed could be. Working side-by-side with their coaches on Beinecke Plaza just outside Commons, the Yale football players found themselves competing to recruit potential donors.

“I was challenged,” said senior linebacker Tim “Bear” Handlon. “‘Presto’ [assistant coach Mike Preston] called me out to see if I could get one.”

Handlon met the challenge — and even used some of his football footwork as he convinced someone walking away from the drive to turn around and potentially help save a life.

“She went into speed-walking mode, so I turned around and went into a backpedal,” Handlon said. “That was what got her. She made it all the way to Wall Street before I convinced her to turn around. The guys were really cheering when I came back with her. Maybe she’ll be a match.”

Those unable to attend the drive who would still like to be tested are encouraged to visit the National Marrow Donor Program website at www.marrow.org or call 800-MARROW-2. For information about Mandi Schwartz, visit www.yalebulldogs.com/mandi.

— By Sam Rubin, Yale Sports Publicity