With the mutual support and feelings of fellowship that a community is based on, Beaverton and Aloha recently came together and supported a family in the neighborhood. Commonly known to many Beaverton and Aloha students because of their administrative position at Aloha, the Yarnell family is going through a tragedy: Mrs. Barb Yarnell was diagnosed recently with an indeterminable form of leukemia and is looking for bone marrow donors. 

Leukemia as a word has many connotations, all of them unnerving and dreaded, but mostly means that there is cancer of the blood cells. Yarnell’s leukemia is in an indeterminable stage, and is A-typical chronic leukemia affecting the bone marrow, hence the need for bone marrow donors.

At the football game on October 2, with Beaverton against Aloha, there was a tent set up for the organization Be The Match, which obtains saliva swabs from people ages 18-44 who are open to being bone marrow donors if they match with someone. 

“14,000 people are waiting for a bone marrow transplant,” said Aloha leadership teacher Erin Livingston. “There’s a 30% chance your family member will be your donor and a 70% chance that no one in your family will be the match.”

Many were scared to get swabbed, as there is a stigma that comes with it. 

“It’s just a Q-Tip in your mouth,” said Livingston. “You basically have a 1 in about 530 something chance of being someone’s match in the world.”

According to a slideshow from Be The Match, “Bone marrow is the soft blood-forming tissue that fills the cavities of bones. Marrow is responsible for making blood-forming stem cells that turn into white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.”

Most people imagine that bone marrow extraction is horrifying, with long needles and scary doctors. However, it is similar to donating blood. 

“[You] sit there for six hours,” said Livingston. “They’re going to pull your bone marrow out and they’re going to put your blood back in.”

Every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. This tragedy has hit home—the Yarnells are known in the community as a loving family and are heavily involved in Aloha.

“I’ve been family friends with them for as long as I can remember,” said ASB co-activities director at Aloha and senior Zach Miller. “I feel obligated to help them and do all that I can, so not just get the swab myself, but also get people I know to volunteer for it.”

“I think it’s amazing that Beaverton and Aloha partnered with Be The Match,” said senior Lexi Hamaker from Beaverton. “Having the tent at the game was really smart. I hope that all the swabs collected can help someone find their bone marrow match, or work towards someone finding it.”

The partnership was organized with the help of Beaverton leadership teacher Jason Sarmiento and a board of student advisors. 

“I think this is bringing a lot of attention to Be The Match. I haven’t really heard much about it before, so definitely in the community, we’ll have more people in the pool,” said Miller.

With the success of the Aloha-Beaverton partnership, more schools intend to help. At a future football game, it is rumored that Sunset and Aloha will have another partnership with Be The Match to benefit the Yarnell family.