Members of the McMaster community hope to swab their cheeks all the way to a
Guinness World Record starting today.

Organizers of McMaster's Get Swabbed bone marrow and stem cell registration program
are confident this year's campaign will set a new world record for most potential donors
swabbed in a 24-hour period.

The current record was set by DKMS Americas, the world's largest bone marrow donor
centre.

The Get Swabbed student-led initiative, launched three years ago at McMaster in collaboration with OneMatch Marrow and Stem Cell Network, attracted 754 participants at its first event.

“Last year, more than 1,000 people got swabbed at McMaster in the 24 hours, most of
whom were students. More than 80 volunteers came out to help,” said Perri Maxwell,
marketing director for Get Swabbed McMaster. “We unofficially broke the record, so we
want to reaffirm it this year.”

Participants, including students, faculty, staff and local community members, can attend
the event to get their cheeks swabbed and register as potential stem cell and marrow donors.

Currently, 265,876 Canadians are registered under OneMatch, while approximately 900
patients are seeking non-familial donors.

Former McMaster student Dustin Shulman started the Get Swabbed campaign in the
spring of 2009 after reading about a man in need of a bone marrow transplant.

“The chances of finding a match to someone are slim,” said Shulman, who serves as
student advisor for the national Get Swabbed campaign. “It takes, on average, about 8
years from the time you register to the time you get a call saying you are a match.”

Snir Seitelbach, a recent McMaster graduate, was swabbed last year and has already
been identified as a match to someone in New York in need of a stem cell transplant.

“I was extremely excited to hear the news, but was informed later that the individual
would not be receiving the transplant,” said Seitelbach. “I absolutely would have gone
through with it.”

An objective of this year's event is to increase the ethnic diversity of registrants to
address the needs of patients from various ethnic groups. Currently, only 18 per cent of
the network of OneMatch registrants is non-Caucasian.

McMaster's Get Swabbed team is looking for volunteers to help out at the event. Those
interested should contact mervinme@mcmaster.ca.

Get Swabbed will take place in the McMaster University Student Centre atrium
from 6 p.m. on November 8 to 6 p.m. on November 9. The session is open to the McMaster and Hamilton communities.