Pre-Health Terps Join Project Life Movement to Raise Awareness for Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Donations at UMD

The Project Life Movement is a national organization focused on finding ways to save lives and cure diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell disease by growing the number of potential bone marrow and stem cell donors on the global registry, its website reads. 

Once again Pre-Health Terps partnered with The Project Life Movement to raise awareness and support on the University of Maryland campus, giving students a chance to aid the organization. 

“Partnering with the PHT at the University of Maryland for a second year has been an incredibly rewarding experience for Project Life Movement,” Katie Fowler Project Life Movement’s Director of Recruitment said. “The student-athletes have been very organized, hard-working, and eager to bring our life-saving mission to campus. These athletes volunteered their time between classes, training, and competition to support our mission and we are incredibly grateful to them all. I want to give a special shout out to Joey Schneck and Maia Lee, the student-athletes who helped plan the event. Their leadership and excitement was outstanding and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with them.”

Schneck and Lee tabled on campus to help raise awareness and give students a chance to swab and see if they’re potential matches for life-saving stem cell research. 

“The value that comes from participating in this event for a second year is knowing that this is the start of a greater impact on the wider community,” Lee, a UMD gymnast, said. “First partnering with the Project Life Movement last year, then being able to host another successful event this year, I can see that this event will always have a place and passionate support here at the University of Maryland. Seeing the excitement from our volunteers, as well as the students of UMD to support the movement for two years in a row, I know that a positive impact is being made. I look forward to hearing about the first match from the University of Maryland. Perhaps it will have been a result of one of these early donor drives.”

Lee and Schneck helped students perform cheek swabs to see if they’d be good matches for people requiring stem cell transplants or other similar operations.

“It has been amazing to see the growth of this movement from the first year to the second,” Lee said. “Planning and hosting the first-ever Project Life Movement Event last year alongside Joey, we didn't know what to expect or how the campus would respond. The response was incredible, though. It was inspiring to see UMD's students more than willing to simply offer a few moments of their time to help save a life. In our second year, we were able to move forth with more confidence that our message would be well received and well supported. Learning and adapting from last year, we were able to get even more support from the campus, as well as offer super exciting giveaways such as a signed Terrapins football helmet! Our passion for the project has only continued to grow, and I can't wait to watch it grow even more in the future.”

Maryland’s student-athletes were happy to help a cause bigger than themselves and educate their peers about the chances they have to give hope to those in need. 

“When it comes to the impact I am making with this event, I mostly think about ‘hope.’,” Schneck, a Maryland wrestler, said. “Through holding this event, we are giving hope to everyone out there that is in need of a stem cell donation. Every single person that we can get to join the national stem cell and bone marrow registry list adds hope that someone can find their match. Hope is what makes putting the whole event together worth it, because it is the hope that I can help save someone's life that inspires me to mobilize my platform and do what I am capable of in order to make that hope possible to begin with.”

“As we continue to build this relationship, our number one goal remains clear: growing the number of young, healthy, and diverse individuals on the bone marrow and stem cell registry,” Fowler said. “Every new registrant represents a potential lifesaving match for a patient battling a deadly blood disease, and expanding the registry is critical to improving outcomes and saving lives.”

According to Project Life Movement's website, the organization has added over 27,000 new donors, found over 900 matches for blood cancer patients, completed 85 transplants, hosted over 750 events and partnered with 50 different universities since 2019.

“Looking ahead, we would love to find even more ways to connect with the University of Maryland campus community,” Fowler said. “Whether it's teaming up with other student organizations or speaking to classrooms, we want to make learning about the registry accessible, inclusive, and inspiring. The energy and enthusiasm we have seen in the last two years is very encouraging and we are excited about the future opportunities this collaboration holds.”

Maryland Athletics and the University of Maryland will continue to spread awareness about the opportunities that college students have to save lives both on campus and through social media. 

“Advice I would give is that anyone can give back and make an impact on their community,”  Schneck said. “You have to pick something you have a passion for so that you can enjoy it and feel fulfilled. You also need to recognize where your own platform, skills, and experiences all align to find the best opportunity for success. You do not need to save the world to make an impact, you just need to do what is possible for you, and your community will always be thankful for that.”