LHS USA to Swab in Capitol Building

Rock and Roll campaign ‘Get On The List’ to save lives on Capitol Hill!

Love Hope Strength Foundation (in partnership with DKMS – We Delete Blood Cancer), are inviting US Senators, Congressmen, staff, government employees, and visitors to Capitol Hill to register and become potential life savers at their first ever cheek swab donor drive, in the Capitol Building on Tuesday, September 6th between 10 am and 4 pm in room HVC-200 in the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC).

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Photo: LHS Co-Founder Mike Peters of The Alarm outside the Capitol Building

Mike Peters & Love Hope Strength need your help to save lives on Capitol Hill!

If you live in the USA, please help us by writing to your local representing Congressman or Senator and ask him or her to please attend our ‘Get On the List’ Donor drive at the Capitol Building’s, Capitol Visitor Center, HVC-200, September 6th between 10am and 4pm.

It’s really quite simple, visit www.contactingthecongress.org or www.house.gov/representatives/find/  and type in your zipcode. The name of your congressional representative and Senators will appear and there will be a box to post your letter in (copy and paste template below), fill out the address form – press send and it’s that easy!

LHSF has been campaigning for this day for many years and it is so exciting to feel that all the hard work and effort, made possible with the support of DKMS, and so many others like you, is finally coming to fruition.

Thank you so much for your support.

Mike Peters (Co-Founder of Love Hope Strength)

The Letter for you to send via www.contactingthecongress.org or www.house.gov/representatives/find/ is here:

Dear (Please fill in the name of your Congressmen and/or Senator),

Bone Marrow Donor Recruitment Drive Event, in the Capitol’s Capitol Visitor Center HVC-200, Washington DC on Tuesday, September 6th, 2016 from 10 am to 4 pm.

As a member of your constituency, I am writing to ask you to join forces with Love Hope Strength Foundation and DKMS at their event in the Capitol Building, Washington D.C. on September 6, 2016 and thus to provide an exemplary platform to showcase the need for people in the USA to become members of the International Bone Marrow Donor Program.

As you may be aware, half the people in the United States who need a lifesaving transplant, do not find a match. It is my hope that this partnership between Love Hope Strength Foundation and DKMS will immensely  grow the number of U.S. donors and significantly improve the chances of finding a potentially live saving matches for those patients suffering from a blood borne cancer or illness across the U.S. and worldwide.

You must be between the ages of 18-55, which also means that most people in the U.S. are now eligible to become a donor.  To register it’s a quick and simple process for those whom are eligible and in good general health.   Potential donors fill out the simple consent form, swab their cheeks with a cotton swab, and it only takes a few minutes. The details are then stored anonymously in the International Bone Marrow Registry until the age of 61.

Love Hope Strength Foundation and DKMS wish to encourage and support thousands of people in the USA to become potential donors.  It is my hope that you will represent our community by registering, as well as further educating other Congressmen, Senators, and your families alike to become potential life saving donors through a process, that in many cases, is as simple as giving blood.

A recently held event within the House of Commons in the UK registered over one hundred MP’s and staff members including members of the cabinet. One such MP John Glen, became a lifesaving match a few months later!

Love Hope Strength Foundation was created in 2007 by Mike Peters, lead singer of UK rock band The Alarm, and James Chippendale a music executive from Dallas, Texas who are both Leukemia survivors and in the case of James Chippendale a transplant survivor whose lifesaving donor was found by DKMS in Germany.

Love Hope Strength was created to help those less fortunate that do not have access to the incredible health care systems and specialists we have here in the west. The charity was registered in the United States and began rolling out the Love Hope Strength mission via musical expeditions to Mt. Everest, Kilimanjaro and Mt. Fuji; raising funds to build cancer centers in Tanzania and Nepal and for those less fortunate along the way.

In 2010, Love Hope Strength partnered with DKMS in the U.S. and began hosting successful donor drives across America to encourage those to sign up to their ‘Get On The List’ program.  Since then, this unique partnership has inspired 150,000 new donors to registry and has located over 3,000 potentially lifesaving matches.

DKMS US, part of the DKMS Germany family of organizations worldwide, was founded more than 20 years ago around the case of blood cancer patient Mechtild Harf. Her transplant need inspired her husband Peter Harf and her physician Prof. Gerhard Ehninger to launch DKMS as a source of donors worldwide for people in Mechtild’s situation. Committed to this cause, they refuse to stop their work until they have found a match for every patient who needs a transplant!

I sincerely hope that you will consider becoming a potential bone marrow donor and support us in inspiring the nation to ‘Get On The List’.

Thank you for your consideration.

Your Name Here

CAP-HILL-BANNER

About LHS and the drive in the Capitol Building

The Get On The List program registers people to the international donor registry by hosting cheek swab drives at concerts and music festivals with the support of many world renowned artists including Robert Plant, Kenny Chesney, Enrique Iglesias, Linkin Park, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and at world class music festivals such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and England’s Isle Of Wight Festival.

Since 2008, LHSF has added over 150,000 music fans to the international bone marrow registry resulting in 3,000+ potentially life-saving matches.

National figures show that half the people in the USA who need an unrelated lifesaving donor never find a perfect match, and the partnership between LHSF and DKMS aims to dramatically improve that figure.

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 55, and in good general health, can sign up by filling out a consent form and giving a tissue sample through a simple cotton cheek swab. The initial process only takes a few minutes to complete.

LHSF has registered potential donors this summer at the Goo Goo Dolls, Greenbelt Festival, Wales’ Festival Number 6 and during the Flogging Molly and Frank Turner US tour. By working together, the partnership between artist, event, LHSF and DKMS will significantly grow the number of potential donors in the USA and improve the chances of survival for blood cancer and blood disorder patients worldwide.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will serve as an Honorary Co-Host for the event alongside House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, in the Capitol Building’s Capitol Visitor Center (HVC-200) ‪from 10 AM-4 PM on September 6, 2016 LHSF and DKMS will host a donor registration event aimed at Members of Congress, their staff, and visitors to Capitol Hill in the hope that greater awareness can be spread throughout the nation.

LHS and DKMS are hoping that many Members of Congress who have been personally and publicly supportive of other cancer awareness campaigns in the past, will come forward to register and help send a powerful message to all people in the USA to become potential marrow donors and thereby give blood cancer patients and those suffering from blood disorders in need of a marrow transplant a second chance at life.

LHSF was founded in both the USA and UK by Mike Peters (three-time cancer survivor), who is also lead singer with internationally renowned British rock band, The Alarm, and James Chippendale, a Dallas, Texas music executive and Leukemia survivor whose life was saved by a matching DKMS donor from Germany.

Mike Peters, Leukemia survivor said, “We are so pleased at the success of the Get On The List Campaign, and are also delighted that the partnership with DKMS is raising awareness that being a donor and making a donation in this day and age is almost as simple as giving blood. People are realizing that one day it could be someone that they know who needs a marrow donor, and the more people that are on the list, the better everyone’s chances of finding an unrelated donor are.”

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is personally serving as an Honorary Co-Host of the event, said “LHSF’s work has helped to save lives. I applaud their efforts and look forward to seeing them on Capitol Hill.” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, said “I am thrilled to be an Honorary Co-Host of this event, and I hope that my colleagues and their staffs will participate in this important life-saving opportunity.”

Natalie James, Executive Director of LHSF says ‘Marrow donations provide lifesaving treatments for patients in need by replacing their unhealthy cells with healthy blood-forming cells. Around 70 percent of patients needing a transplant rely on the bone marrow registry to find an unrelated donor. Come to the Capitol’s the Capitol Visitor Center HVC-200 ‪from 10 AM-4 PM on September 6, 2016, and let’s save lives together.”

“The DKMS mission is to help all patients who have blood cancer or blood disorders find their lifesaving match,” said DKMS US CEO Carina Ortel. “Love, Hope Strength Foundation has been instrumental in registering so many people. We encourage staffers and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to come out on Sept. 6 and join the fight. Cancer can affect everyone, and everyday people can step up, become heroes and save lives..”

In 2013, LHSF partnered with DKMS We Delete Blood Cancer and hosted the first ever cheek swab drive in the UK’s House of Commons registering over 100 Members of Parliament including John Glen MP of Wiltshire who was matched within months and went on to give the lifeblood needed to help save someone’s life.

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Photo: British Mp John Glen donates his lifeblood in the hope of saving another human being.

The numbers speak for themselves. Many Lives ‘Will’ be saved.

So please, come to Washington on September 6th and together, let’s make a real difference in the world. For information about how to get to the CVC, please see: https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/plan-visit/us-capitol-map

See the website below for further information and details of how to sign up online!’

About DKMS

DKMS is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating blood cancers like Leukemia and other blood-related illnesses inspiring both men and women around the world to register as bone marrow and blood stem cell donors. DKMS is providing patients with a second chance at life, working closely with families from diagnosis to transplant and beyond. The donor journey begins with a swab of the cheek that takes less than 60 seconds and can be the action that leads to a lifesaving transplant. DKMS, originally founded in Germany in 1991 by Dr. Peter Harf, has organizations in Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The organization has registered more than 5 million people.

To join the fight against blood cancer or for more information on either organization, please visit www.lovehopestrength.org or www.lovehopestrength.co.uk or www.dkms.org

  • Someone is diagnosed with blood cancer in the USA every 3 minutes
  • Every 10 minutes blood cancer takes a life somewhere in the world.