Smithtown student holds bone marrow donor drives
Brian O'Reilly, a sophomore at Smithtown High School West, recently hosted bone marrow drives to benefit the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. He is pictured here on the right with fellow Boy Scouts. Credit: Meghan O’Reilly
A Smithtown student has been striving to help individuals with life-threatening illnesses by coordinating bone marrow donor drives.
Brian O'Reilly, a sophomore at Smithtown High School West, has secured more than 50 donors to benefit the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. His efforts included a five-hour drive at Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, a smaller drive during last month's German Festival at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Smithtown, and a third drive at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, where his father works.
The drives consisted of guiding potential donors, ages 17-35, through the process of swabbing. Only 30% of patients with diseases treatable with a bone marrow transplant can find a suitable donor among family, the registry said.
O'Reilly, a member of Boy Scout Troop 888 in Smithtown, held the drives as part of his Eagle Scout Service Project.
"One of my scout masters was in remission for leukemia and it recently came back," O'Reilly, 15, said. "These events made my feelings toward the importance of this project more profound."
In addition, O'Reilly collected more than $4,000 through monetary donations and a car wash held in the parking lot of Outback Steakhouse in Commack to help offset processing costs for the swabbing kits.
O'Reilly is on his school's cross country and track teams and last year received the Suffolk County Legislature's silver-level Distinguished Youth Award.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
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