ABILENE – Through these first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world is finding out firsthand what
Earl Young has known well for close to a decade – 'Nurses are awesome!'
"They're at the top of my list," said the Abilene Christian Track and Field letter winner and 1960 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist from his home in Dallas.
Virtual Donor Drive: How To Help
Earl Young's Team in partnership with ACU's School of Nursing and DKMS is holding a two-week Virtual Donor Drive from April 20 to May 4, 2020
Here's how to participate and get on the Bone Marrow Registry.
1. Click this link
2. Sign Up and / or Make a Gift
3. Fill out the questionnaire
4. If eligible, a DKMS swab kit will arrive in 10-15 business days
5. Follow instructions on swab kit and return via pre-paid envelope
He ranks them high for good reason. The nursing staff at Medical City Dallas cared for Young in late 2011 during his battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (blood cancer), and through the additional generosity of German bone marrow donor Christine Waag, Young's life was saved in January 2012. He has since dedicated a large part of his life to organizing campus bone marrow drives through a partnership with
DKMS.
Young regularly shares his story of gratitude and preaches to students the importance of bone marrow donation at ACU Chapel, but this spring he wanted to do something bigger. He and Waag planned to skydive into Elmer Gray Stadium prior to the start of the track and field team's Wes Kittley Invitational, which was scheduled to begin March 19 – a week after all NCAA spring athletics events were shut down due to Coronavirus.
He would then run a baton to one of the team's nursing majors (there are 12 on this year's roster) to provide an extra dash of excitement as well as bring attention to an upcoming donor drive he was coordinating with
ACU's School of Nursing and its dean
Dr. Marcia Straughn.
"I went to Dr. Straughn a few months ago," recalled Young, "and told her I'd like for the School of Nursing to own this program (bone marrow donor drive) whenever I bring it onto campus. I wanted the nursing students to put it on, run it and get credit for it. This is what they're about, and Dr. Straughn was more than happy and anxious to get it rolling. Having the school sponsor this effort is of great importance to me, and I'm so appreciative of all their help."
Virtual Donor Drive Information
Waag, meanwhile, was a day removed from flying to Texas when the meet was canceled; however, she's continued to put her life-saving skills to work in Germany.
"I saw a picture of her wearing a HAZMAT uniform," said Young. And you know what she does now? She's in an ambulance going out and checking people for Coronavirus. She lives in this environment. That's who she is. She's awesome."
Young and Waag first met in 2014 and have remained in close contact. And although he's 'pretty depressed' about having their ACU event and additional drives at Harding and Pepperdine universities canceled, he reflected the messages from their first meeting before making a spiritual connection.
"I said to her that day, 'all I can say is thank you,' he said, "and then live my life a little better than I did before. Because of her (donation) I have a real-life event that lets me appreciate even more our Christ dying for me. He died to keep me alive, and Christine shared her life with me to do the same.
"When they plugged that line into my vein and Christine flowed into me to keep this body alive, it's similar to how when you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, he comes and helps you carry out your spiritual life. I'm a blessed man to have that message so forcefully put into my life."
Young truly appreciates his second chance. He believes in what he does and the mission of his foundation,
Earl Young's Team, whose purpose through awareness and registration is to boost the number of donors on the Bone Marrow Registry.
Seven ACU-affiliated students have been matches over the last few years.
During her senior year of 2018,
Madison Losher Zeller received the call that she had matched an infant girl and was flown up to Washington D.C. for collection, and a year earlier Wildcat cross country / track and field letter winner
Landa Dowdy Blakeley was introduced to her match, Dustin Santoni, a 34-year-old from Arizona who was once dying from leukemia.
"There's been a lot of spiritual lessons for me in this walk," said Young. "We're asking people to please do this and maybe they'll be the one who's called. But don't think it's a little deal. Don't think you won't be called. Christine was the only one in the registry, and if she said, 'eh it's never going to happen', I wouldn't be here today telling this story."
Sadly, only four of 10 people who could have a chance at life by receiving a bone marrow / stem cell transplant actually find a matching donor. One of those in need is aware of is a 27-year old mother of five boys at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She, like Young, is suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
"It's going to be very difficult for her to find a match, but I know it's out there," said Young. "God gives every one of us the opportunity to respond to helping people. He puts them in front of us all the time, there will always be those people that we can help … and it's most important that we're not poor in spirit."
With in-person donor drive events canceled, DKMS has provided Young and additional groups with a
Virtual Donor Drive option. Young is hopeful DKMS' experience conducting these drives will lead to a bigger number of registrants.
"They've done these for years," said Young, "and the great thing about doing this online is the (Facebook) 'share' button. This opens up all sorts of opportunities, meaning your friends will see what you're doing when you click on it. And we could go worldwide if all those friends all did the same.
"It's quite a thing. God made our bodies in such a way that science discovered that you can save somebody and someone can save you. There's nobody walking out there who doesn't have multiple matches, but some are very difficult to find.
"This is an opportunity to save a life, offering yours to save another, and you don't even have to give up yours."
Nor does one have to leave the house. Again, just go to this
DKMS site, register, follow the swab kit instructions and send back in a pre-paid FedEx envelope. The samples are then sent to a lab and placed within the national registry.
"I'm so blessed to have lived this long and have these events and blessings come about that allow me to better understand the giving side," said Young. At the end of the day, that's all God is going to be interested in, how much you helped your fellow man. He wants to you to believe His story, and he wants you to help your fellow man. I know the story, and now I have to go do the work. Just like the Book of James says, '… be doers of the word, and not hearers only.'
