<ne Marrow Drive needs your help
Every day, thousands of people search the Be the Match bone marrow donor registry to find a potential match for their life-saving bone marrow transplants. These patients have rare types of leukemia, metabolic disorders, and other life-threatening diseases for which a bone marrow transplant is their only hope of survival. This Monday and Tuesday, you have the chance to sign up to save a life by joining this registry.
At the time of registration, all you will provide is contact information and cheek swabs. Your information will be stored in the registry until age 60, and you hold the commitment to inform the registry if your contact information changes. Eligibility for Be the Match is very different from blood donation. Travel, tattoos, and other restrictions do not apply for bone marrow donation.
If you are ever found to be a match for someone in need, you are essentially the one person in the world who can save that patient’s life! The donation process is not nearly as horrifying as Hollywood makes it out to be.
There are two methods of bone marrow donation, and it is up to the doctor of the patient in need as to which one will be used. A bone marrow transplant is done under anesthesia, and marrow is taken from the back of the pelvic bone. The donor may feel some soreness for a day or two after the procedure, but ibuprofen and other pain relievers will help.
The other process, called PBSC donation, requires the donor to take a drug called filgrastim for five days prior, which moves blood-forming cells out of the marrow and into the blood. On the day of the procedure, the donor goes through a process much like blood donation. Blood is taken from one arm and is passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells. The remaining blood is then returned to the body through the other arm and the donor walks out feeling perfectly healthy. The majority of bone marrow transplants are done with PBSC donation.
More information on the Be the Match registry can be found at www.marrow.org. To sign up, or for more information about the registry, come to the tables in the Great Hall and Great Space Monday, April 20 from 12-5 or Tuesday, April 21 from 12-6.
