NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University football signed up 314 names for the National Bone Marrow Registry on Tuesday.

ODU Head Coach Bobby WIlder started the drive seven years ago and the Monarchs have continued to raise more awareness and add names to the list. The 314 people signed up on the registry gives ODU a three-year total of nearly 1,000 individuals signed up for the registry.

In what has become an annual event for the Monarchs, Wilder and his team are looking to help the more than 6,000 men, women and children who are searching the National Marrow Registry for a life-saving donor. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant.

There are 20 million people worldwide who are registered as potential marrow donors. Still, there are only about 250 matches found each year, making it a 1-in-80,000 chance that a registered donor will be a match.