An East Coast Ride to Share Life

From Bar Harbor to Key West, Cycling Event to Raise Awareness of Life-Saving Donations: Blood, Marrow and Blood Stem Cells, Umbilical Cord Blood, Apheresis, and Organ and Tissue

At sunrise on August 27 (4:50 a.m.) atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, 10 cyclists from across the United States will embark on a 50-day-long Five Points of Life ride. Each with a personal connection to one or more of the five points of life, they will encourage others to share life.

The mission of Five Points of Life is to raise awareness of the five ways people can share life with others through whole blood, apheresis, marrow and blood stem cell, umbilical cord blood and organ and tissue donation.

The 10 amateur cyclists will ride down the East Coast, stopping each day at Five Points of Life events held at 59 locations in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Special events will take place at each stop and the riders will make appearances at such events as a Baltimore Oriole’s ballgame, a reception on the Capitol steps in Washington D.C., and a half time event during the University of Florida versus Louisiana State University football game on October 7.

An Opening Ceremony will take place on August 26 at the Maren Auditorium, Mount Desert Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove, Maine. As part of the ceremony, a special donor and recipient meeting will take place between cancer survivor Renelle Pollard, and her life-saving marrow donor Darlene Jordan. Today, Renelle is five years post-transplant and has received a clean bill of health. These two strangers - who have never even spoken - will meet for the first time.

As the riders traverse the coast, people all along the route will have the opportunity to donate blood and join the National Marrow Donor Program’s® (NMDP) Registry of volunteer marrow and blood stem cell donors - tissue typing will be free. Typically the lab fees for tissue typing to join the NMDP’s Registry can cost up to $80 per person. Tissue typing for all Five Points of Life events is being paid for by The Marrow Foundation®, a partner organization that secures support from the private sector for the work of the NMDP.

Additionally, people can learn about platelet donation through apheresis, the need for banking umbilical cord blood and the importance of sharing your decision with your family or loved ones when you sign an organ and tissue donation card.

The need is great:

• Less than 5% of the eligible population donates blood in the US each year, but one in every 20 people will need a blood transfusion sometime in their life.
• Apheresis donation provides the same amount of platelets as eight whole blood donations and is crucial for leukemia and heart surgery patients.
• Each year 30,000 people are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases for which a marrow or blood stem transplant could be their only cure.
• Umbilical cord blood offers another transplant option for people – especially children – diagnosed with leukemia, anemias and other inherited disorders.
• There are at least 64,000 Americans on organ transplant waiting lists at any given time.

The Ride will conclude Saturday, October 14 at the Mallory Docks in Key West, Fla.

The Five Points of Life, a program of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, originated in 1996 in Gainesville, Fla. The first two rides crossed the country from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. During these rides, 11,376 whole blood donations, 1,568 apheresis donations and 2,266 additions to the National Marrow Donor Program® Registry were made. The message of sharing life by talking to your family about organ and tissue donation was promoted at every event.

Partnering with LifeSouth to produce the Five Points of Life Ride are the American Association of Blood Banks, Coalition on Donation, National Marrow Donor Program and The Marrow Foundation. Ride sponsors include Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, State Farm Insurance, Haemonetics and Saturn/UAW.

For rider profiles, calendar of events, up-to-date ride highlights or information on any of the Five Points partners or sponsors, please visit www.aabb.org or www.lifesouth.org or call toll-free 877-5POINTS.