Punk Music Meets Donor Swabbing At Philly Festival
By Kristen Johanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There were plenty of piercings and tattoos at a punk music concert Saturday night at Festival Pier, but also some good will.
The Love Hope Strength Foundation had a booth set up to draw potential donors for the bone marrow and organ registries.
"I became involved, because my dad had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and has a bone marrow transplant, and that transplant bought us a few more years," said volunteer Michael Barnes. "He passed away, but the bone marrow transplant gave us some more time."
Concert-goer Gregory Ames traveled came from Johnstown to hear the music, but ended up swabbing his inner cheek to get onto the registry.
"My brother passed away from sickness, so it's nice to help anyone else who has something like that," he said. "If people need it, it's just like donating blood or something like that, it's not a big deal."
Barnes still misses his dad, but says growing the list pf potential donors helps the healing process:
"Those are five years that we had, that's something I will cherish forever so if we can come to these concerts, and do that for other families, that's huge."
And there was a special surprise for Barnes, when he saw someone he had swabbed a few years ago. The man told him he became a match and a donor.
"He got a call, flew out to somewhere, and was a match. And the guy that he helped, he saved his life, and it's a guy with like 3 kids, and now he can spend more time with his 3 kids because of this," Barnes said.
