Mocs’ Davis makes big off-field contribution
Luke Davis patrolled the sideline Saturday at Finley Stadium, out of uniform and in street clothes other than his No. 53 jersey.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga backup linebacker and special teamer didn’t play a single second in the Mocs’ 34-0 win over Presbyterian, but it was OK.
He had already had a full week.
Davis, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound redshirt freshman and McMinn Central alum, was selected to donate stem cells as part of the “Get in the Game: Save a Life” drive started by Villanova football coach Andy Talley. Davis sat out Saturday’s game while recovering from the medical procedure but should be back to his normal routine this week.
Talley began the non-profit foundation in November 2010, two decades after becoming aware of the odds facing those in need of bone marrow transplants. Every four minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer, meaning tens of thousands of patients diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia or lymphoma are in need of a bone marrow transplant, although only half receive one, according to Talley’s website, talleybonemarrow.org.
Every spring, football teams host a donor registry drive on campus and encourage classmates and friends to join the “Be the Match” registry.
According to Talley’s website, “Get in the Game” has registered more than 52,000 potential donors, resulting in almost 200 marrow transplants.
The chances of a matched, available donor are as low as 66 percent for some patients, and 70 percent of patients have no suitable donor in their family. All Davis knew about the person he had matched with was that it was “somebody with leukemia that matched on a DNA level” with him.
According to cancer.net, patients in need of a stem cell transplant used to receive a “bone marrow transplant” because the stem cells were collected from the bone marrow. Nowadays, stem cells are usually collected from the blood instead of the bone marrow, such as in Davis’s case. A stem cell transplant provides new, healthy blood cells.
Davis had to undergo a number of injections in preparation to donate.
“It’s increasing the amount of stem cells so when I go for the donation, they can just take the blood out and skim the stem cells off the top,” he said last week.
UTC coach Russ Huesman has encouraged his players to participate in the cause, and he was pleased one of his guys had finally been selected.
“I think him donating … to save a life is huge,” Huesman said. “That’s the reason you do it; for somebody to have an opportunity to save a life. I know Luke was extremely, extremely excited when they told him, and I think it’s pretty cool that we have this happen.”
Davis said nervousness about the procedure came early but quickly left, and by last week he was looking forward to it. He practiced with the Mocs on Tuesday before leaving for Vanderbilt Medical Center the following day and had the procedure done Thursday morning.
“I think this is very important,” he said. “It really hit home with me because I know people in my family that went through cancer, so just knowing I can help prolong somebody’s life and for their family, it means a lot to me and I think it’s something that’s really important.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfree press.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley tfp.