Saving Lives

Maryland Made student-athletes partnered with Project Life Movement to plan events that motivate more people to join the stem cell and bone marrow registry.

Project Life Movement is an organization that strives to encourage young students on college campuses to be listed and registered as stem cell and bone marrow donors. 

Katie Fowler is the director of recruitment at Project Life Movement and the student-athlete's primary point of contact for this initiative.

“More than 20,000 patients in the United States need a stem cell transplant each year,” Fowler said. “However, less than half receive a matching donor from the registry. Our quest is to sign up as many healthy people as possible for the registry.”

Fowler said college students are a great demographic because they are young, healthy and represent a diverse population.

Maryland Made's June Career Exposure trip to Charlotte introduced former gymnast and current student-manager Maia Lee and wrestler Joey Schneck to Project Life Movement. They then thought about the possibility of bringing it to Maryland’s campus. 

“The people were so nice, and the cause, it seemed so great and something that I could really help with,” Lee said. “So I wanted to become a part of it.”

Lee said that as a pre-med student hoping to enter healthcare, she tries to take any chance to help out. She was especially inclined to join the Project Life Movement since she believed the cause to be significant and healthcare-related.

Similarly, Schneck said he realized that working with this initiative would help people in need, considering the limited use of stem cells to cure different diseases.

“Being on a college campus is going to be one of the best spots to find people that could be matches for those people,” Schneck said. “I just saw it as a great opportunity for me to get involved and help the Project Life Movement grow the donor registry list and potentially help find matches for people that need stem cells.”

Pre Health Terps is a University of Maryland organization that guides student-athletes on their journey to healthcare professions. They work with Project Life Movement to organize tabling events to increase the donor registry.

As the PHT Vice President, Lee said she and Schneck, PHT’s Director of Engagement, are tasked with coordinating campus events to register students as potential cell and bone marrow donors for Project Life Movement. They recently held their first tabling events on Nov. 12 and 13 at LaPlata Beach. 

Lee mentioned her interest in collaborating with a local hospital for a future event and helping get other PHT members involved in the community.

Schneck said collaborating with other on-campus organizations, like the professional health, pre-med, or stem fraternities, would help grow the event and attract more attendees.

Adaeze Alaeze, Program Director of Student-Athlete Career Development, credits students like Lee and Schneck for taking charge and making the best of their time as student-athletes

“This was completely a student-athlete-led opportunity, and the leadership, poise and proactiveness they displayed should be a testament to all student-athletes about taking onus in their student-athlete experience," Alaeze said.

Lee and Schneck shared their enthusiasm for the program and gratitude to the Maryland Made career exposure trip for connecting them with the organization.

“It's something that I had never known about before until I went on this trip,” Lee said. “I'm excited to now know about it and now be a part of it and help it grow because that's what it’s all about is helping the cause and getting more people to become aware of it.”

The hard work and dedication of the PHT student-athletes made the Maryland collaboration with the Project Life Movement successful.

“The University of Maryland Pre Health Terp student group has been incredible to work with because of how engaged and enthusiastic they are about our mission,” Fowler said. “The work that we do is not possible without leaders like Maia and Joseph and the rest of the members of the Pre Health Terp student group.”