Earl Young, a 1960 U.S. Olympic track and field gold medalist, will be speaking in chapel at LeTourneau University's Belcher Center  from  10:50- 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, on the university's main campus, 2100 S. Mobberly Ave. The public is invited to attend the event free of charge.

Young who set a world record for the 4 x 400-meter relay in track in field, will speak about how a bone marrow transplant saved his life.    Young was diagnosed with an aggressive acute myeloid leukemia as a 70-year-old man in 2011 and needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. He had been given three months to live. He is quoted as saying, "Two very defining times in my life were winning the gold medal in Rome in 1960, and getting a cancer diagnosis in a doctor's office in 2011.

Because of the bone marrow registry, a woman in Germany who was a perfect match-and was the only perfect match out of 22 million donors-was identified and her bone marrow cured his disease and saved his life.

Young's goal is to give more blood cancer patients the chance of survival that he received so gratefully. His organization holds registration drives at universities, like the one taking place at LETU on Monday and Tuesday. Young, who lives today in Highland Park, Texas, got to meet the woman who saved his life with her bone marrow donation. See that story online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiciEEVkZvg<https://mail.letu.edu/owa/redir.aspx?REF=SQBXWF-sj0p3f7qMwVJyw8pU-ay5VlCGVFTn84t5ef6z6l4xgUzUCAFodHRwczovL3d3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbS93YXRjaD92PWFpY2lFRVZrWnZn>.

Anyone attending Monday's chapel to hear him speak can go by the registration table in in the Belcher Center immediately after his presentation to learn more about how to someday save a life. Registration will also be set up in the Commons area of the Allen Family Student Center on Monday and Tuesday

LeTourneau University is the Christian polytechnic university in the nation where educators engage students to nurture Christian virtue, develop competency and ingenuity in their professional fields, integrate faith and work, and serve the local and global community. LETU offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs across a range of disciplines and delivery models at LETU's residential campus in Longview, Texas, and in hybrid and fully online options at centers in Dallas and Houston.