Watertown High’s Armenian Club participated in this year’s Armenian Bone Marrow Walk,  held under the direction of the American Cancer Society’s Walk of Life.

The walk was held on Saturday, Sept. 27, beginning at the Armenian Cultural & Educational Center and ending at Watertown’s Saltonstall Park and the Faire on the Square celebrations.

Fifteen club members joined hundreds of participants in the third annual Walk of Life, including Armenian Club members from Belmont High and Lexington High. Once the students reached the park, they participated in awareness-raising activities, manned the booth, and passed out literature, encouraging people to register in the International Bone Marrow Registry.

Every year, thousands of people worldwide die from leukemia and other blood diseases.  In Armenia, 40 percent of childhood diseases are leukemia, and only 25 percent of patients find donors within their families. Due to the genetic makeup of Armenians, it is extremely difficult to find a match in the existing international registries.

–Oct. 6, 2014–