HackDFW is the largest hackathon in the south. We focus on technological innovation through design thinking.

Mar 2, 2016

HackDFW: Code and Save Lives

Contributors: Anna Maria Reiter, HackDFW Director of Food and Healthy Hacking Ideas

At your last hackathon, did you watch or create an app intended to improve your health and wellbeing? Innovative technology is giving us an incredible platform to develop things that will help keep us fit and healthy and that will hopefully build smarter, more empowered communities that make better, more informed choices. However, we shouldn’t forget about the “human” piece of the puzzle — where and how we can help our communities right here, right now. In that spirit, HackDFW is teaming up with Be The Match — the world’s largest marrow donor program, coordinating marrow donations and screenings around the world.

Be the Match — Blood & Bone Marrow Donation

Perhaps you have heard of the importance of a marrow transplant in treating Leukemia (or blood cancer), but in fact over 70 diseases, including various cancers and other blood conditions, can be cured and treated by a donor transplant, and, given that somebody dies from Leukemia alone every 10 minutes, there are many reasons to join a registry as a donor. What do you have to do to become registered?All it takes to get started is a swab of your cheek sent off for advanced genetic testing to hopefully match you with someone in need of a transplant.

Unlike blood donation, marrow donation places fewer restrictions on donors. For example, being born outside of the U.S is not an exclusionary criterion for the process. As our society becomes more diverse, so do the people who need marrow donations. Unfortunately, bone marrow matches depend highly on genes, so donors with a diverse genetic background are high in demand and currently scarce in supply. So, in many ways, this issue directly impacts our community of STEM students around the world.

At HackDFW, we will have reps from Be The Match conducting screenings, so we hope that you will join our team in helping this important cause. By coming to HackDFW and getting screened, you could “Be the Match” that saves someone’s life. Make sure to check out their website bethematch.org to learn about the many different ways of getting involve and to understand more about the process and the commitment it takes to be part of someone’s cure.