Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Football Team To Host 'Be The Match' Registry Event
April 12, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — When Colorado wide receiver Danny Galloway learned that he had become a blood stem cell donor "match," the math became quite simple.
"It was one morning out of my life and a whole lifetime for him," Galloway said. "If I gave up one morning of my life to donate, my match could possibly get years and years added to his life. He could continue being a dad, a brother and a husband. That seemed to be a pretty good trade."
Indeed — and on Feb. 13, Galloway spent that morning at the Bonfils Blood Center in Denver making the donation to a 49-year-old man stricken with leukemia. Galloway recently received a letter from his match, informing him that he had reacted well to the transfusion and was "doing much better."
Galloway, a senior, is the second CU football player to become a donor through Be the Match, a nationwide program that manages the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world.
Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre, who began having his players participate in the program when he was at San Jose State, continued the community service project in Boulder when he took the reins of the Buffs. CU players, coaches and administrative personnel will host their annual registration event Wednesday, April 19, from 8 a.m. to noon at Balch Fieldhouse on the CU campus.
"It's a really important part of our football program," MacIntyre said. "It's a life-and-death situation that you are trying to help. Getting blood stem cell matches is extremely difficult. You have to spread a wide net and you need a lot of people in the base. The younger, healthy generation is a great area and a college campus provides a lot of diversity. That helps you spread the net wider and provide more opportunities."
In the seven years that MacIntyre's teams have been hosting a registration event, seven matches have been made. Last year, CU linebacker Derek McCartney became the first Buff player to become a donor through the program. Galloway became the second this year.
"If you can go through life and say, 'I actually gave and saved somebody's life,' that's an amazing experience for you and really for the people you helped," MacIntyre said. "I think it's also a great lesson for our young guys. At their age, they all think they are kind of immortal. You don't think anything's ever going to happen to you. It makes them realize when they are doing this and they hear people talk about it, they go 'Whoa — life is precious and the opportunity is precious.' They realize it's important, and they also realize they need to be thankful for what they have."
The odds of becoming an excellent match and being asked to become a donor are actually quite slim — one reason the registry needs as many participants as possible. Galloway received an email asking him to go in for secondary testing about 18 months after he initially joined the registry.
"They wanted to take some blood and see who the best match was out of five people," Galloway said. "Out of those five, I was the best match. When they asked me to come in and be a donor, it didn't take long to decide to do it. One morning for me; a lifetime for him."
Galloway's decision was also made easier by the fact that approximately four months before he received the email, one of his aunts passed away.
"She needed one of those transfusions and didn't get one," Galloway said. "I wasn't thinking I would actually end up being a match because it's so rare, but when they called, it was a really easy decision."
Galloway doesn't know the identity of his match, but has received an initial letter informing him of his match's progress.
"I tell people to absolutely do it when they ask about signing up," Galloway said. "There's virtually no risk or harm, but you could honestly add years and years to someone's life. When I received that letter, that's when it really hit me — I did help somebody. I gave someone the opportunity to go on with their life."
The Colorado football team will host a Be the Match registration event on Wednesday, April 19, from 8 a.m. to noon at Balch Fieldhouse. The process is simple and quick. It involves a mouth swab and providing some basic information. For more information on Be the Match, go to https://bethematch.org.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
