Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation: Joining the Registry

Back in 2000, after donating blood regularly for years, I was told that I could no longer donate due to new restrictions for people who had lived in the United Kingdom. The ban was designed to prevent the risk of spreading Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from those who were living in the UK during the outbreak of Mad Cow disease. In 1984 I spent my second college junior semester studying at the University of London - an amazing experience, and one which would indirectly change my life nearly 30 years later.

At the time, I was really disappointed. My father had gotten me involved in donating blood, and I found it to be an easy and rewarding way to "pay it forward". Now that I was no longer able to participate in this effort, I wondered what I would do in its place.

I don't remember who suggested that I join the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry, now known simply as Be The Match (http://www.marrow.org/), but whoever it was, to him or her I am eternally grateful.

I do remember that it was a pretty easy decision to join the Registry. I read the basic information about what it meant to be on the Registry and what it would mean if I were ever a match for a patient. I knew that it might mean being stuck with a big needle to draw out my bone marrow. I knew that it might result in a lot of pain. But I also knew that these risks and obsticles would pale in comparison to what the patient would be living through.

10 years would pass before I would get my first call from the Colorado Marrow Donor Program. Since that first call on April 12, 2010, I have read and researched and have spoken to doctors and have learned so much more about this amazing process.

I encourage you to read this blog about my experience with Be The Match as a donor. I hope that it inspires you to join the Registry yourself.

To my non-white friends and readers: There is currently an urgent need for minority donors including African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native. Patients and donors must have matching tissue types, and these matches are most often found between people of the same racial and ethnic background. A large, ethnically diverse group of prospective donors will give more patients a chance for survival.