Thanks to everyone in Athens and the surrounding areas, a little girl now has a bone marrow match and a world record has been set! 

Cardy Pennington, a local sixth grader, decided she was going to help her classmate, Kajal Patel, find a bone marrow match, no matter what.  Despite the odds of 1 in 20,000, Cardy garnered the support of her family, classmates, other passionate parents and her school, Athens Academy. A 24 Hour Marrow-thon drive was organized for March 27 - 28 on the UGA campus and various Athens locations in conjunction with Be the Match.

The 24 Hour Marrow-thon was a huge success; several matches were found for Kajal, and a world record of 2938 swabs were taken during that 24 hour period.  Plus additional numbers were registered both before and after the event bringing the latest total to 4004.  Each of these represents hope for another person waiting on a match with a bone marrow donor. 

There are six more drives planned in the near future including a large one at Global Mall on April 22nd in Atlanta, one in Kalamazoo MI on April 14th, one at an Atlanta Hilton on April 21st, an Atlanta temple, one in conjunction with the Medical College in Athens and one in conjunction with the UGA School of Nursing on April 20th.

For more information:

• See Kajal's page  with Marrow.org.  
• Kajal's Facebook Page
• Twitter is @HeroForKajal