5K Run, Walk Held for Marrow Donor Efforts

In an effort to raise money to help offset the costs of screening potential bone-marrow donors, a group of Ventura County residents will hold a 5K run and one-mile walk at Surfers Point Park in Ventura today.

Registration for the event, called “Run for a Life,” will begin at 7 a.m. Both the run and walk will start at 8 a.m.

The fees will be $12 for the run, or $15 with a T-shirt. Registration for the walk will cost $5 or $10 with a T-shirt.

All proceeds will go to help the National Marrow Donor Program pay the $45 cost of screening each potential donor.

The event is being sponsored by the Regina Carter Foundation, a group named for a 26-year-old Ventura mother who was found to have leukemia last Thanksgiving. Carter is waiting to find a suitable donor for a marrow transplant.

To encourage people to sign up for the marrow registry, a blood mobile will be stationed at Surfers Point Park until 12:30 p.m. today.

Because the national registry is particularly short of non-Caucasian donors, blacks, Latinos and others who are members of racial or ethnic minority groups may register for free.

For more information, call 653-6383.