Amira Kabbara, UNH’s first bone marrow donor

Editor's Note: This is part one in a two-part series about bone marrow donations and UNH

    Last spring, Amira Kabbara was encouraged by her sisters of Alpha Phi to go to a bone marrow drive being held in the MUB as a way of giving back to the community. 

    "We like to do a lot of community service and we figured that it was another great way to help out," Kabbara said in an email.

    While at the bone marrow drive, Kabbara and her roommates were told that the chance of being a match for a patient was one in 25,000. This statistic discouraged Kabbara, who had talked with her roommates beforehand about being excited about the possibility of saving a life.

     In September, Kabbara received a call from DKMS Americas, the largest bone marrow donor center in the world, and was informed that she was a match for a 60-year-old man suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The junior psychology major was stunned.

   "I honestly was shocked and so excited," said Kabbara.

    The bone marrow drive was held by Giovanni's Team, a recognized student organization on campus that was formed in the fall of 2006. The organization is dedicated to holding bone marrow drives in search of potential matches for suffering patients in need of transplants. So far, Kabbara has been their only match out of 500 potential donors.