Oxford swab drive Saturday seeks bone marrow match for 11-year-old

Cate Hargett, an 11-year-old from Greenwood whose future now depends on finding a bone marrow match, is the focus of a donor-registry swab drive at Midtown Shopping Center on North Lamar Boulevard in Oxford today. The drive runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, and organizers are urging adults ages 18 to 35 to register.

“We believe Cate’s perfect HLA match is out there,” Jenni said. “That’s why we’re working so hard and why we won’t give up. Every single person who joins the registry gives us hope.” The speaker is identified only as Jenni in event materials.

The registration process at Midtown is quick and low-barrier: the swab requires about 10 minutes, uses a painless cheek swab, and involves no blood draw or needles. The cheek sample determines whether a person’s human leukocyte antigens, or HLA markers, could match someone in need; each person has twelve HLA markers, creating millions of possible combinations.

Medical materials distributed at the drive note that Cate “has developed a significant mutation in the TP53 gene.” TP53, described as the “guardian of the genome,” normally works to suppress tumors and protect the body from cancer. Event organizers emphasize that Cate is “deeply loved by family and friends in Greenwood and throughout the Mississippi Delta,” and that expanding the registry improves the chances of finding a compatible donor for patients with rare genetic vulnerabilities.

Organizers explain what happens if a registrant is identified as a match: donation typically occurs through a process similar to plasma donation, in which blood-forming cells are collected from the bloodstream. In a smaller percentage of cases, marrow is collected from the hip under anesthesia. Event information states that both procedures are considered safe and most donors recover quickly.

Because HLA markers are inherited and vary significantly across ethnic backgrounds, the drive specifically targets young adults 18 to 35, who typically provide the best transplant outcomes. For those unable to attend the Oxford event, individuals ages 18 to 35 can text “TeamCate” to 61474 to register with the National Marrow Donor Program and receive a free swab kit by mail.

A fragment of an Instagram post tied to the effort reads: “Individual can come to the future swab drive to get swabbed or register ... of a bone marrow transplant please contact me. DM me. I have” — the post is truncated and unattributed in distributed materials. The Oxford community has an opportunity Saturday to help save the life of an 11-year-old girl whose future now depends on finding a bone marrow match.