Mayville State University to hold stem cell donor registration event in honor of dead alumnus
Jan. 14—MAYVILLE, N.D. — Mayville State University is teaming up with the National Marrow Donor Program to build the pool of potential stem cell donors in honor of a Mayville alumnus and military veteran who died in 2023.
The Comets Cure Cancer for Jason event, coordinated by the Mayville State University Student Athletic Advisory Council, will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 30. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can come to the Mayville State University Campus Center and register as potential stem cell donor matches, a press release said. They are also able to register from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the May-Port CG High School, where doubleheader girls and boys basketball games with Hillsboro-Central Valley will take place. Registry requires a cheek swab.
The event is in honor of Jason Perkins, an alumnus of Mayville State who attended many of the university's sporting events and was a member of the Comets Football chain-gang and Mayville-Portland American Legion color guard group. He had also served in the Marine Corps and Air Force.
Perkins was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2019 and Myelodysplastic Syndrome in 2022, which called for either a bone marrow or stem cell transplant as a cure. In October 2023,
NDSU held a registry event
led by NDMP, then known as Be The Match, in the effort to find a match for him. He did eventually receive a stem cell transplant on Oct. 31.
Perkins died in December 2023 and is survived by his wife, Hanah Perkins, and his sons, Wyatt and Ethan Perkins.
"He truly loved Mayville State sports and believed that sports united humanity," the release said. "He believed in the goodness of humanity."
