Because I Care, a nonprofit organization that recruits potential stem cell or marrow donors for the Be the Match Registry, hosted its 27th annual Bryan Quinn Memorial Golf Tournament on June 3 at Wood Hollow Golf Course.
Because I Care co-founder and board member Sharon Sanders said the tournament usually brings in between 85 to 100 golfers, with 90 participating in this year’s event.
“Sometimes we have more than that but our average would be close to 100,” she said.
Because I Care was co-founded in 1990 by Sanders and Amy Hill after finding out their friend Anita Quinn’s son, Bryan Quinn, had been diagnosed with leukemia and was in need of a bone marrow transplant.
“He had no family members that matched and the doctors at Baylor told us the best thing we could do to help was to add potential donors to the national registry,” Sanders said. “That’s where we started and we didn’t know how we were going to do it … but we learned.”
Another man, Al Edwards, also was in the hospital with leukemia during the same time as Quinn.
“They were both at Baylor and they both needed transplants,” Sanders said. “We had a walkathon at Pine Tree High School and we raised $34,000 that day in 1990.”
Also during the event, 63 people were tissue-typed — adding to the 300 who were typed the previous month — and more than 80 units of blood were drawn.
Potential donors must be between the ages of 18 and 44.
“Throughout the year we go to various campuses, churches, health fairs, first responders fairs, anywhere there will be a gathering of young people,” Sanders said. “We go all over east Texas and we even help fund some drives as far as Dallas.”
Because I Care has added thousands of potential donors to the Be the Match Registry.
“Since it started, we have tissue-typed about 35,000 people here in East Texas,” Sanders said. “There is a fee for every test that we do and we have paid for that with proceeds from our golf tournament every year.”
The numbers aren’t yet in for this year’s total, but Sanders said proceeds from previous years have been around $21,000.
“Doctors are searching the Be the Match Registry daily,” Sanders said. “Our hope is that they will find someone that will be willing to donate their marrow in an effort to save a life.”
For information, visit https://bictexas.org/ .