PORTLAND
, Ore. –
Led by defender
Cameron Knowles
, the Portland Timbers are teaming up with DKMS, the largest bone-marrow donor center in the world, to host a bone-marrow donor drive on Sunday, Feb. 8, at PGE Park on behalf of Marcia Williams, who was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2008.
The Timbers’ bone-marrow donor drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. inside the pavilion suites at PGE Park. Several current and former Timbers players, including
Scot Thompson
,
Kiki Lara
and
Chris Brown
, will be on hand to participate in the drive and meet with potential donors.
Williams, the wife of Knowles’ former Real Salt Lake teammate Andy Williams, was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia called “AML6” in July. Since then, she has started treatment and undergone six bone-marrow biopsies but will ultimately need a bone-marrow transplant to help save her life.
“After learning of Marcia's unfortunate situation I felt compelled to do something,” said Knowles. ”I learned that the process for testing for potential donors is easy and pain-free, requiring nothing more than a cheek swab. I saw how the soccer community in Utah came together to support the cause and knew we would do the same here in Portland.”
DKMS has partnered with the soccer communities in Salt Lake City and now in Portland to help find a match for Marcia’s rare bone marrow type.
“The more people that get tested, the more chance there is of finding someone to save not only Marcia's life, but also the lives of the more than 103,000 people that are diagnosed with blood cancers each year,” said Knowles.
The Timbers’ bone-marrow donor drive is open to all healthy individuals between 18-55 years of age. To help cover costs of the drive, donations will be collected at PGE Park during the drive or can be made in Marcia’s name online at
www.dkmsamericas.org
. To learn more about the Williams’ story, visit
www.soccerunitesutah.com
.
For more information about the Timbers bone-marrow donor drive, contact community outreach manager, Sierra Smith at (503) 553-5430 or ssmith@pgepark.com. Access into PGE Park for the bone-marrow donor drive will be located at the gates near the corner of SW 20th Ave and SW Morrison St.
About DKMS
DKMSwas founded in Germany in 1991 by Peter Harf and Dr. Gerhard Ehninger after Harf lost his wife, Mechtild, to acute leukemia. Today, DKMS is the world’s largest marrow donor center with over 1.7 million registered bone marrow donors. Since its founding, DKMS has facilitated more than 15,000 bone-marrow transplants.
The mission of DKMS is to give every blood-cancer patient a second chance at life by recruiting bone marrow donors from every race and ethnicity. For more information about DKMSand to learn more about registering as a bone marrow donor, please visit
www.dkmsamericas.org
