Temple University Athletics
Football to Hold its Annual Bone Marrow Drive
4.2.18 | Football
Get in the Game….Save a Life.
When presented with that challenge over the years, the Temple Football team has jumped in to help.
This year, the Temple Football team is asking you to join them on Wednesday, April 11, for its annual bone marrow registry drive. Volunteers are asked to sign up at the Temple University Howard Gittis Student Center (1755 North 13th Street) any time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. Registration takes approximately 15 minutes.
Each day, more than 350 patients in the United States will learn that they have blood cancer. Over the years, Temple football players helped register over 1,000 people to the bone marrow registry, in hopes that they can be someone's cure.
For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Over the past 25 years, Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program®, has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world.
In 2008, Villanova head football coach Andy Talley received a phone call from Be The Match®, asking to partner with his decade long on-campus drive efforts. Through the years, Coach Talley enlisted many other college football programs to lead and host their own on-campus donor drives each spring. The football players span the campus, recruiting people to take the cheek swab test, thereby registering themselves as potential bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry.
Temple was one of the first to enlist. Little did they know at the time how much it would mean to the football program. A year earlier, a healthy freshman equipment manager, Michel'Le Daughtry (Misha to her friends), began working with the team.
By the summer of 2008, Misha was diagnosed with leukemia. Throughout Misha's three-year battle with leukemia, she continued to work and be an inspiration to the football team any and every chance she had. Misha received a bone marrow transplant that allowed her to live a longer life and to continue to be an inspiration to the staff and players of the Temple Football program.
"When she got sick, she called me up and said 'I'm not going to be there in the fall that much because I just found out I have leukemia and I have to get treatment, but I told them they have to hurry up because I need to be back for football camp in two weeks, so they need to hurry up,'" said Megan Kita, Daughtry's roommate and friend in college.
The Temple football team had always been a large supporter of the bone marrow drives, even before one their own was affected.
"I remember doing a drive as a player and I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do," said Adam DiMichele, the team's offensive assistant coach and former Owls' quarterback when Daughtry was in college.
By holding the bone marrow drive, which Kita had dubbed "Mission for Misha," DiMichele feels the team is honoring someone who made a lasting impact on the football program.
"When I heard about Misha passing, it was really devastating to a lot of people in the Temple family, so to have this in her honor is the least we could do for all she did for us," said DiMichele.
According to DiMichele, Daughtry "didn't have a bad bone in her body and had a smile that radiated through everyone." Kita remembers that Daughtry "was a fighter" and had an absolute positive outlook through her diagnosis.
"From the time she was diagnosed, she had an 'I'm going to beat this and do whatever I have to do so I can get back to football' attitude," said Kita. "The football team was what really motivated her to continue."
One person who got on the registry was her friend Marc Schaffer. "If you can honor a friend or do something in their memory, their spirit lives on. What better way to honor your friend than to help someone else…her spirit lives on in them."
In 2013, Schaffer got the call that he was a match. "It totally slipped my mind. I remember signing up. I was glad I got the call." In April 2013 while he was a graduate extern with the athletic training staff, Schaffer donated bone marrow to save the life of an unknown 21-year old with lymphoma.
Now, five years later, Schaffer has had a chance to meet the beneficiary of his marrow.
Kita serves as the point person with the Be The Match Program and works with DiMichele to coordinate the team's participation.
"Megan does all the heavy lifting," said DiMichele. "Communicating with Be The Match®, scheduling things with the University, getting the volunteers and the prizes – that is a huge undertaking. But I understand why she does it. Misha was a special person, she was Temple through and through."
"My role is a bit easier. People take notice of our football players on campus. We asked them, 'Would you like to save a life?' How often do you get to ask someone that question? If you can have a chance to save a life, what more can you ask for? Then, you just have to give them the details."
Once someone decides to become a donor, they fill out some paperwork and swab their cheek with a Q-tip. Then they wait….for some it could be months, for others years, until a match is found.
For those who are unable to make the drive and are still interested in joining the bone marrow registry, click here.
When presented with that challenge over the years, the Temple Football team has jumped in to help.
This year, the Temple Football team is asking you to join them on Wednesday, April 11, for its annual bone marrow registry drive. Volunteers are asked to sign up at the Temple University Howard Gittis Student Center (1755 North 13th Street) any time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. Registration takes approximately 15 minutes.
Each day, more than 350 patients in the United States will learn that they have blood cancer. Over the years, Temple football players helped register over 1,000 people to the bone marrow registry, in hopes that they can be someone's cure.
For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Over the past 25 years, Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program®, has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world.
In 2008, Villanova head football coach Andy Talley received a phone call from Be The Match®, asking to partner with his decade long on-campus drive efforts. Through the years, Coach Talley enlisted many other college football programs to lead and host their own on-campus donor drives each spring. The football players span the campus, recruiting people to take the cheek swab test, thereby registering themselves as potential bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry.
Temple was one of the first to enlist. Little did they know at the time how much it would mean to the football program. A year earlier, a healthy freshman equipment manager, Michel'Le Daughtry (Misha to her friends), began working with the team.
By the summer of 2008, Misha was diagnosed with leukemia. Throughout Misha's three-year battle with leukemia, she continued to work and be an inspiration to the football team any and every chance she had. Misha received a bone marrow transplant that allowed her to live a longer life and to continue to be an inspiration to the staff and players of the Temple Football program.
"When she got sick, she called me up and said 'I'm not going to be there in the fall that much because I just found out I have leukemia and I have to get treatment, but I told them they have to hurry up because I need to be back for football camp in two weeks, so they need to hurry up,'" said Megan Kita, Daughtry's roommate and friend in college.
The Temple football team had always been a large supporter of the bone marrow drives, even before one their own was affected.
"I remember doing a drive as a player and I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do," said Adam DiMichele, the team's offensive assistant coach and former Owls' quarterback when Daughtry was in college.
By holding the bone marrow drive, which Kita had dubbed "Mission for Misha," DiMichele feels the team is honoring someone who made a lasting impact on the football program.
"When I heard about Misha passing, it was really devastating to a lot of people in the Temple family, so to have this in her honor is the least we could do for all she did for us," said DiMichele.
According to DiMichele, Daughtry "didn't have a bad bone in her body and had a smile that radiated through everyone." Kita remembers that Daughtry "was a fighter" and had an absolute positive outlook through her diagnosis.
"From the time she was diagnosed, she had an 'I'm going to beat this and do whatever I have to do so I can get back to football' attitude," said Kita. "The football team was what really motivated her to continue."
One person who got on the registry was her friend Marc Schaffer. "If you can honor a friend or do something in their memory, their spirit lives on. What better way to honor your friend than to help someone else…her spirit lives on in them."
In 2013, Schaffer got the call that he was a match. "It totally slipped my mind. I remember signing up. I was glad I got the call." In April 2013 while he was a graduate extern with the athletic training staff, Schaffer donated bone marrow to save the life of an unknown 21-year old with lymphoma.
Now, five years later, Schaffer has had a chance to meet the beneficiary of his marrow.
Kita serves as the point person with the Be The Match Program and works with DiMichele to coordinate the team's participation.
"Megan does all the heavy lifting," said DiMichele. "Communicating with Be The Match®, scheduling things with the University, getting the volunteers and the prizes – that is a huge undertaking. But I understand why she does it. Misha was a special person, she was Temple through and through."
"My role is a bit easier. People take notice of our football players on campus. We asked them, 'Would you like to save a life?' How often do you get to ask someone that question? If you can have a chance to save a life, what more can you ask for? Then, you just have to give them the details."
Once someone decides to become a donor, they fill out some paperwork and swab their cheek with a Q-tip. Then they wait….for some it could be months, for others years, until a match is found.
For those who are unable to make the drive and are still interested in joining the bone marrow registry, click here.
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