Be A Donor

(♥ “Who needs a transplant and why?”
For thousands of children and adults suffering from leukemia, aplastic anemia, or other blood-related disease, their only hope of survival is a stem cell transplant from someone like you. Often, these patients are unable to find suitable donors within their own families and must rely on volunteers listed on bone marrow registries.

♥ “Why donate?”
There is no reward other than the personal satisfaction of giving another person the greatest gift of all, the living gift of life. If you should be fortunate enough to become a donor, any related expenses incurred will be paid by the patient or the patient’s health insurance provider.

♥ “Who Can Donate?”
A person of any race or gender who is 18 to 35 years old and in generally good health may join the NMDP Registry for blood stem cell and marrow donor. (The volunteer donor will remain on the registry until age 61, unless he/she chooses to be removed before that age.) In order to be added to the data bank of potential donors, the first step is to fill out a digital consent form and collect a sample of cells from the mouth using a Buccal Swab kit provided by the recruiters. Because I Care pays for this test.

The tissue type is entered into the NMDP Registry where it is cross-checked against the tissue type of patients needing life-saving transplants. If the volunteer’s tissue type matches that of a patient, he/she will be notified for further testing. All expenses incurred by the potential donor from that point on are taken care of by the patient.

♥ “Tell me about the donation procedure.”
Stem cells collected from either the donor’s bone marrow or blood stream (peripheral blood) allow new marrow to grow in transplant patients. If you are matched with a patient, you will receive information about two methods of donating stem cells. The patient’s physician will request a preferred donation method.

During a marrow donation, (Used only 10% of the time) the stem cells are collected through a surgical procedure using a special needle inserted into the hip bone.  The donor is under general anesthesia during this procedure.

For a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection, (Used 90% of the time), the donor is given a growth factor medication that increases the number of stem cells released into the blood stream. After receiving the growth factor, PBSC can be collected through the process of apheresis.

♥ “What about the transplant procedure?”
The donated stem cells are given to a patient intravenously in a procedure similar to a blood transfusion.

♥ YOU CAN JOIN BE THE MATCH ONLINE:
If you cannot attend our events, you can join as a new committed member…
By texting BIC to 61474

Online at https://join.bethematch.org/becauseicare

Or use this QR code:

You must be 18-35 years old to join the BTM Registry.
You remain on the registry until age 61.
There is no charge to join.
A kit will be sent to you. Just mail it back ASAP.