Rutgers Women's Basketball Team Rallies Behind Manager Fighting Leukemia

Gianna DeVeitro, a 2016 Rutgers graduate and the former manager of the Rutgers women's basketball team, was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after graduating RU.

She was luckily able to find a bone marrow match very quickly, thanks to DKMS, a leading blood cancer nonprofit. Unfortunately, many blood cancer patients are not as lucky. Gianna will pay it forward by registering people as potential bone marrow donors this Sunday at the Rutgers vs. Northwestern basketball game.

The game is at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Rutgers Piscataway campus.

Gianna will be there with DKMS, to swab attendees and add them to bone marrow registry. It's just a cheek swab. The bone marrow donor registry is underrepresented by African-Americans and Hispanics, and blood transfusions work best within the patient's own ancestry. The registry is only 11 percent Hispanic and 7 percent African-American, compared to 61 percent white.

Gianna is currently stable, but still has a ways to go before she's out of the woods.