WOSS students rally together to help save woman's life

Oakville Beaver

White Oaks Secondary School (WOSS) students are rallying together to find stem-cell donors to help save a life after being inspired by the story of a 24-year-old woman.

Mississaugas Cristina DiCorte was diagnosed with mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy (MNGIE), a rare condition preventing her from being able to digest her own food.

DiCorte currently gets all her nutrients through a catheter. A stem-cell transplant could help reduce the effects of MNGIE and prolong and give the woman a better quality of life.

WOSS students have teamed up with OneMatch Stem Cell and the Marrow Network to host two swab events this weekend at Oakville Place, in front of Claires, 240 Leighland Ave.

The events run Saturday (Feb. 15) from 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday (Feb. 16) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

There is a special donor registration need for ethnically-diverse males aged 17-35, in good general health.

The goal is to add more optimal donors to the OneMatch Network with a simple swab of the inside cheek from donors and a brief health questionnaire.

While there are more than 325,000 Canadians currently registered on the OneMatch Network, there are still approximately 1,000 patients searching for a matching stem-cell donor.

Currently, 72 per cent of registrants are Caucasian and only 28 per cent are from Canadas many diverse groups.

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WOSS students rally together to help save woman's life