This morning several Tricycle staff members waded through un-plowed snow drifts from last night’s storm to meet Jeana Moore at the Northwest corner of Central Park. We were greeted by Jeana—wearing her trademark reflective yellow vest—and a dozen friends who were ready to join her on the last 3 miles of her 4,400 mile “Steps To-Marrow” walk from Seattle to New York City.
Jeana begin the walk on October 19, 2009 in an effort to register donors to the National Bone Marrow Registry (NBMR). Jeana became involved with the NBMR after her granddaughter, Jada, was born with Leukemia in 2007. Thanks to the NBMR, doctors were able to find a donor match for Jada (the donor joined Jeana on the final leg of the walk today). The bone marrow transplant saved Jada’s life.
As we made our way from the North end of Central Park to the South, the pack of walkers grew as friends and family members joined the group and curious bystanders stopped Jeana to ask what we were up to. Even during the final steps of her journey Jeana was handing out cards to passerbys, encouraging them to look into registering as marrow donors. “All it takes is a mouth swab!” she would call as our group moved on. The walk ended at a mid-town hotel where Jeana’s 3-year old granddaughter Jada greeted us and met her marrow donor for the first time.
By the end of the walk Jeana had registered over 3,500 bone marrow donors and she plans to continue to work towards her goal of signing up 20,000 donors. Read more about Jeana Moore and Steps To-Marrow in the “Good Work” section of the Winter 2010 issue of Tricycle and visit the Steps to Marrow website.
