Event Information
Attention M4MCA WALKERS!!! QR CODE MISTAKE ON MATERIALS!
The QR Code on some of our materials directs WALKERS here to the Racewire Site instead of DIRECTLY to the Aplastic Anemia site, which is at: https://aamdsif.salsalabs.org/m4mca2025/index.html.
If you are signing in to walk with a Patient Team you will find your Team listed at the above link so please register here: https://aamdsif.salsalabs.org/m4mca2025/index.html
IF INSTEAD YOU WANT TO RUN you can sign in here at Racewire! Thank you!!!
CHANGE IN PACKET PICK-UP!!! Now at Private Sneakers, Long Beach CA!
PACKET PICK-UP!!! All of our Race Cards were printed when we discovered that Runners High was closing, and therefore could not host our Packet Pick-Up. Private Sneakers, at 1900 Ximeno Street, Long Beach 90815, is stepping in as our host on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Pick up is scheduled for 11:00 am to 4:30 pm. Come check in, pick up your race bibs, t-shirts and goody bags and see their new store!
Whether an Experienced Runner or a Beginner, you should run at Shoreline Village on Saturday, April 26th!
Mia Hamm, US Women’s National Team, who lost her beloved brother, Garrett, to bone marrow failure diseases, says, “This run is perfect for the new and seasoned runner. The course is scenic, flat and fast. When I can, I run it in memory of my brother.”
The 16th Annual March for Marrow 5K and Patient & Family Walk is at Shoreline Village, 429 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, CA 90802, on Saturday, April 26, 2025, with In-Person and Virtual options. Registration is available HERE on RaceWire or at 7AM in person at Shoreline Village. Packet Pick Up and Registration is also available Thursday, April 24, 2025, from Noon to 4:30 pm, at Runners High, 4101 McGowen St Ste 145, Long Beach CA 90808.
March for Marrow includes a 5K Run, Patient & Family Walk, Silent Auction, award ceremony, and a Moment of Remembrance celebrating our 2024 Champion, Jillian Stewart (who only recently beat her bone marrow failure disease) and patients still living with bone marrow failure diseases as well as remembering loved ones we have lost. Every runner, walker and volunteer will get an event t-shirt and goodie bag and will have the opportunity to be swabbed by the National Marrow Donor Program - Be the Match as a potential marrow donor.
IN-PERSON Start on April 26, 2025!
The 16th Annual March for Marrow is a hybrid – both IN-PERSON and VIRTUAL - on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Registration for our IN-PERSON 5K is either here or at 7:00 am and the Start is at 8:00 am, Shoreline Villag6e, 429 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, CA.
Those who choose to run VIRTUALLY can run any time on April 26, 2025, and post your best time on STRAVA or send it by email to march4marrowla@gmail.com.
Before and after your run post your selfie or video at #MarchforMarrowCA @AAMDSIF.
What is the Virtual March for Marrow Registration process?
Register here and run any time after 8:00 am your time zone, April 26, 2025. As mentioned, timing will be on your STRAVA app. You will get updates about the event if we have your email address and cell phone.
Help us promote this virtual run or walk by posting a selfie about registering at @MarchforMarrowCA @AAMDSIF
STRAVA Timing or Email for Virtual Runners
Recording and submitting your 5K time:
Be sure to use Strava to log and record your time. To do so, just log into the
Strava app on your phone or online and find the “March for Marrow” Club. You
can find this on your browser here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/march4marrow7
Once you have the Strava app downloaded, or you’ve gone to the event
online:
1. We ask that you create a Strava profile
2. Then join the event labeled “Event Title”.
3. When you run on or before April 26, 2025, be sure to have your phone
with you and record your run using their record feature. You’ll be able
to then upload your time to the event!
If you do not use STRAVA email your times, START and FINISH, to march4marrowla@gmail.com.
Please keep in mind that all race time submissions should be done on good
faith. Some people’s routes will be flatter and have less hills, and some
participants may be running on sidewalks and waiting for traffic lights
while others are in a park. In the spirit of the AAMDS community, please be
honest about your time when submitting your results.
Awards – T-Shirts
This year we are keeping it simple. We have as many as 100 t-shirts for the first overall registrants to run, walk or fundraise, plus a Welcome Packet and Place Medals for First, Second and Third Place in age groups of 5-years. Be sure that we have your mailing address.
Additional Activities - Silent Auction for those In-Person!
For those of you IN-PERSON we are recruiting items for our Silent Auction.
Our Auction Committee is looking for some exciting items to add all the time!
Why Virtual and Statewide?
The 2025 March for Marrow California will celebrate 16 years of advocacy this year after 2 years of having to go virtual.
In 2021 we even went STATEWIDE, running and walking from southern to northern California. We are going to continue that option, because California is a huge state, with many rural areas where doctors have never seen a bone marrow failure patient – and we need to educate them for that first case.
Shortly after we went virtual, the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation decided to put on its three-day, 7th International Scientific Symposium on July 15-17, 2020, TOTALLY VIRTUALLY. In the end the Symposium attracted 697 research and medical professionals from 32 different countries. The top five countries attending were the US, Brazil, United Kingdom, India, and Burma.
Cancellation of 5K or 1-Mile or 2-Mile Walk
There are two things that could cancel this event in 2025: Lightening and a dangerous uptick in COVID. Watch for notices at www.marchformarrow.org!
About March for Marrow (formerly Hope, Steps & A Cure Los Angeles)
March for Marrow events, which began as Hope, Steps & A Cure 5K Run and Patient & Family Walk in 2010, were organized by a group of patients and families in Los Angeles that are living with bone marrow failure diseases or who have lost a loved one to these rare diseases. Bone marrow failure diseases affect the production of healthy red and white blood cells and platelets:
• Red blood cells carry oxygen to tissues and organs
• White blood cells help fight disease and infections
• Platelets help blood clot to stop bleeding
If the bone marrow "factory" breaks down and fails to keep up with the body’s need for healthy blood cells, the result is called bone marrow failure. Aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) are bone marrow failure diseases.
Today there are several treatments to prolong and improve the quality of life for patients. March for Marrow events seek to educate the public about the important work that the Aplastic Anemia MDS International Foundation (AAMDSIF) does to inform and educate patients, family members and medical professionals about these diseases, their symptoms and resources available to help them. Please visit www.AAMDS.org.
March for Marrow Walks, which take place every year in different communities across the country, are also fundraising and community building events where patients and their supporters come together to compete at raising as much money as they can for the patient and family services offered free-of-charge by the Foundation. We join together to celebrate and remember wins and losses and to run/walk for a CURE!
To date, we have raised over $1,000,000 for AAMDSIF in Los Angeles. In 2021 the Foundation provided service to 17,745 patients and families; webinars and online learning opportunities to 6,291 viewers; three VIRTUAL Patient & Family Conferences that attracted 1,737 attendees from the US and other countries; patient education materials that were downloaded by over 5,028 patients or family members; and managed 127 monthly support groups.
AAMDSIF continues to make a significant difference in the field of these rare bone marrow failure diseases, providing critical information to 1,200,000 people including doctors, nurses, and research fellows as well as patients, families and caregivers.
Thank you for your support!
2025 AAMDSIF Bone Marrow Failure Summit: Translating Science to Advance Patient Outcomes
Topic(s): Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH), Bone Marrow Transplant, Aplastic Anemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)
Since it was founded in 1983, AAMDSIF has partnered with clinicians and researchers to translate the latest knowledge of bone marrow failure conditions to advance patient outcomes. The 2025 Bone Marrow Failure Summit will feature engaging panels on aplastic anemia, PNH, MDS, MPN and AML. Each session will include presentations by thought leaders followed by moderated panel discussion. Topics will include the most noteworthy developments in standards of care, translational science, bone marrow transplant and GVHD, clinical trials, and predictions for the future treatment landscape.
This Summit is a unique forum that focuses on recent advances in the field and fosters robust debate both during and between the sessions. Researchers are invited to submit abstracts on innovative bone marrow failure research for the poster session on Thursday evening.
For New Investigators, the Summit is an especially rare opportunity to interact with international bone marrow failure experts. Travel grants are available for New Investigators to attend the program.
Poster Session: Abstracts summarizing new, ongoing, or updated research in bone marrow failure may be submitted by February 3, 2025. Apply here.
Travel Support for New Investigators: Limited Travel support is available. Apply here. https://www.aamds.org/upcoming-professional-conferences-webinars
