WHEREAS, the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is announcing November as Marrow Donor Awareness Month; and
 

        WHEREAS, more than 35,000 children and adults are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases each year; and

        WHEREAS, many people continue to die from leukemia and other life-threatening blood diseases because they are unaware that an unrelated bone marrow transplant could be life saving; and

        WHEREAS, the mission of the NMDP is to facilitate successful transplants of hematopoietic cells from volunteer unrelated donors for patients of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds; and
 

        WHEREAS, it is a goal of the NMDP to continue increasing the number of African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American, and American Indian volunteer donors through focused recruitment efforts; and
 

        WHEREAS, the registry of donors contains over 6.75 million volunteers nationally and over 10 million volunteers internationally, who have agreed to become unrelated marrow donors for people unknown to them, but in need of a transplant; and
 

        WHEREAS, the NMDP is working with its affiliated centers have facilitated over 25,000 unrelated transplants worldwide; and
 

        WHEREAS, some residents of Idaho have received transplants and some are still in need of transplants;

        NOW, THEREFORE, I, C.L. “BUTCH” OTTER, Governor of the State of Idaho, do hereby proclaim the month of November 2007 to be

MARROW DONOR AWARENESS MONTH
 

in Idaho, and I encourage all Idahoans to work with the NMDP on the continued growth of the registry and the number of transplants facilitated.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Idaho at Boise, Idaho, on this 26th day of October in the year of our Lord two-thousand and seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred thirty-second and of the Statehood of Idaho the one hundred eighteenth.

BEN YSURSA
SECRETARY OF STATE