Pickleball Clubs partner with Gift of Life Marrow Registry to Save Lives
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A dedicated group of volunteers from the Delray Beach Pickleball Club and the Valencia Palms Gift of Life Club held the 2nd Annual Round Robin Pickleball Tournament benefiting Gift of Life Marrow Registry on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
- (1888PressRelease) March 27, 2018 - More than 100 players and spectators, including marrow donors, transplant recipients and volunteers joined together to help those battling blood diseases and in need of a transplant find their lifesaving marrow matches.
For many patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other cancers there is hope of a cure through a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant. Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, but 70 percent of patients do not have a related match and must search the worldwide registry for a volunteer donor.
Those attending the event included two-time marrow donor Matthew Hocherman of Boca Raton and Barbara Goodman of Boynton Beach, whose life was saved through a bone marrow transplant. Gift of Life Founder and CEO Jay Feinberg presented medals to the tournament winners. The medalists were Michael Krooks and Arnie Weinberg – gold, David Amrani and Mark Vogel – silver and Tobias Kaye and Arthur Stein - bronze.
"The Gift of Life Pickleball Tournament was a terrific success,” said event organizer Gail Oliver. “A fantastic group of dedicated volunteers was able to share the lifesaving mission of Gift of Life with a huge crowd of pickleball enthusiasts. It was pickleball with a purpose!"
Since its founding in 1991, the Gift of Life Marrow Registry has registered over a quarter million potential donors and saved over 3,200 lives. Relying on the generosity of partners to underwrite the $60 laboratory cost needed to process each test kit and add new donors to the registry, the funds raised at the tournament will be used to help save lives.
About Gift of Life
Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. The organization, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives and facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. To learn more about Gift of Life Marrow Registry, visit www.giftoflife.org.
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