By midafternoon Sunday, about 200 people had cotton-swabbed the inside of their mouths in the hope of being a blood marrow donor match for longtime Havre de Grace volunteer firefighter and paramedic Vince Way.
Way, a former Havre de Grace police officer and, more recently, City Council member, is battling leukemia.
He needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. Organizers of the bone marrow test drive held at the Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps headquarters Sunday afternoon raised about $26,000 in advance so potential donors would not have to pay for the $52 test.
Way admitted Sunday that the odds were against him, but he was still optimistic and overwhelmed at the show of support.
“In a mathematical sense, the drive probably won?t help me, but it will help someone else,” Way said.
People who turned out to be tested Sunday will be placed in a national database, and though most came to be tested for Way, they could be called on to help another cancer patient in need.
Havre de Grace resident Patty Hooker was a match for a man in Kentucky, and she donated marrow from her hip in 2002.
“I like to say I gave a 3-year-old boy a daddy for life,” Hooker said. The man she helped has recovered completely.
Way said if a match is found, there is an 80 percent chance he will make a full recovery.
Phil Powell, a resident of Havre de Grace who has known Way all his life, said getting tested was “the right thing to do.”
“I?m hoping I can help Vince, but if mine is needed by someone else, I?ll be the first to help,” Powell said.
“I spent five minutes doing this, and hopefully I can save 50 years of someone?s life in the future,” said Greg Teitelbaum, gesturing to the four cotton swabs he used to scrape a DNA sample from his mouth.
“It?s something anyone can do, but it can?t be manufactured,” he said.
