Team Kim: Are You McGrath's Match?
Just days after a heartfelt, two-sentence request quietly released through his personal twitter account asking for help in finding a bone marrow match for his 36 year-old wife Kim - a very recent breast cancer survivor and recently diagnosed with Leukemia - supporters of Jeremy McGrath (the beloved All-Time Supercross champion) resolutely took charge and immediately jumped into action. In less than a week, Jeremy McGrath, as well as a combination of bethematch.org staffers, family and friends, set more than 26 bone marrow drives into action, the VERY latest of which took place Wednesday at Monster Energy Drink headquarters in Corona, California.
With more than 600 people rolling into Monster’s parking lots on Wednesday afternoon - all of them eagerly awaited by an army of Monster Energy volunteers - the gathering immediately took to lines and received test kits, and then subsequently, performed the simple mouth swabs and instantly became “registered” on the official national bone marrow registry - ultimately allowing many to become potential donors.
“Jeremy has been part of our Monster Energy Family right from the very start,” said Terri Sacks, Monster Energy Director of Philanthropic Initiatives. “ When we were informed of Kim and Jeremy’s challenge, we immediately reached out and asked, ‘Jeremy and Kim, how can we help?!”
When the drive started, Jeremy was right there alongside us and added: “It is my personal goal to find a bone marrow match for my wife Kim and with all of this incredible support we hope to test thousands of people over the next few weeks. In less than a week we have already tested more than 1,000, brought in funds to help bethematch.org keep doing what they do and hopefully raised some awareness of how important it is for people to get tested and become bone marrow donors,” McGrath said.
In a movement McGrath lovingly refers to as TEAM KIM, Bone Marrow Driveshave already been set at most of the stops of the AMA Outdoor National Series starting this weekend in Anza, CA. Additionally, weekend drives are also taking place this Saturday and Sunday, May 19th and 20th at Speedworld Raceway in Arizona where Jeremy will be for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Today, May 18th bethematch.org and TEAM KIM will be at Camp Pendleton for the Semper Fi Ride Day, where up to 5,000 participants are expected. Next week TEAM KIM drives continue on May 23 in Carlsbad at Wasserman Media Group / Transworld Headquarters; June 1st in Ensenada, Mex for the Baja 500; June 2nd in Lancaster, CA at the AV Motoplex; June 8thand 9th in San Bernardino at Chaparral Motorsports; and June 17th in Del Mar, CA with SPY Optic for the Del Mar Races.
Additionally, McGrath stated, “We really hope to keep the momentum going and I look forward to coordinating bone marrow drives at many large-scale events this summer. The responses to my initial ask for help has really been more than me and Kim could have ever imagined. Thank you all so much.”
A TEAM KIM Facebook page is in the works that will list all of the upcoming events in detail. The TEAM hopes to have drives in place at an upcoming NASCAR race and at events surrounding the Summer X Games in Los Angeles.
Please visit http://join.bethematch.org/mcgrath to order your kit and get tested or to make a donation.
