Call for More Bone Marrow Donors in Honor of Ovarian Cancer Advocate

Mary (Dicey) Scroggins

In honor of longtime ovarian cancer survivor and passionate patient advocate Mary (Dicey) Scroggins, SGO leadership is reaching out to the gynecologic cancer health care community following her recent diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia. Scroggins is facing potential bone marrow transplant after induction chemotherapy, and SGO is requesting that members sign up as bone marrow donors through the National Marrow Donor Program and ask their friends and colleagues to do the same. In addition to her years of advocacy for diverse patient populations, which included a presentation on clinical trials at the 2019 SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, Scroggins is also the Director of Global Outreach and Engagement at the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS).

“The data on bone marrow transplant matches is fraught in the communities of color, and that donation is too rare an event,” said Elise C. Kohn, MD, Head of the Gynecologic Cancer Therapeutics Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program/Division of Cancer Treatment & Diagnosis at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD “Mary selflessly wants to help those who come after her, even if these efforts are not timed to help her directly.”

Joining the Be The Match Registry® means volunteering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant. Potential donors can register online, swab their cheek for an DNA sample, and then wait to get matched to a patient.