THE BONE MARROW DONATION PROCESS

The Bone Marrow Transplant Testing and Donor Process

“Every year, thousands of adults and children need bone marrow transplants — a procedure which may be their only chance for survival. Although some patients with leukemia or other cancers have a genetically matched family member who can donate, about 70 percent do not. These patients' lives depend on finding an unrelated individual with a compatible tissue type, often within their own ethnic group, who is willing to donate marrow for them.”
Puget Sound Blood Center web-site ~ Donating Bone Marrow

A huge thanks to Sarah Schnack at the Puget Sound Blood Center for taking the time to help with the following information!! She is at 1-800-366-2831 Extension 1897 or 206/292-1897 and you can call her for more information.

There are at least three ways you can be tested as a bone marrow donor. To volunteer you must be between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and in good health. The testing is looking for a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) match, which is a tissue type match that does not have anything to do with blood types, as a blood donation would. Please be aware that, unless you are of the same nationality background – Norwegian – the odds of your being a non-related match for her are very slim. There is more information about the process and what a match really means on any of the web-sites listed here or on the National Marrow Donor Program web-site http://www.marrow.org/.

The initial testing process involves nothing more than completing the donor forms – walk-in or on line - and having a cheek swab done. No blood draw! If and when you are a match for Marcia or for someone else, then there will be blood work and the marrow harvesting process. For more information on the entire process see either the national or Puget Sound web-sites. I have copied the content from the "Bone Marrow Donation Myths and Facts" informational sheet from Puget Sound Blood Bank into another entry as I think it's helpful too.

For a non-related person who wants to be tested as a bone marrow donor, the quickest and easiest way to do that here in western Washington is to go in to any Puget Sound Blood Center and sign up for the National Bone Marrow Donor list. For locations and information see http://www.psbc.org/programs/marrow.htm They are the donor center for the National Marrow Program for Washington and Alaska.

If you would like to be tested specifically for Marcia by going into a Puget Sound Blood Bank, be sure to write on the form or attach a sticky note with her name onto the form. Sarah then will be sure to expedite the test on her behalf. And remember that even when designating your test for specifically for Marcia, this process will place you on the National Registry.

You can also go through the process on-line with the National Marrow Donor Program at http://www.marrow.org/. You will fill out the on-line form and be sent a swab kit to complete and return. This will also place you on the national registry as the Blood Bank walk-in process does. It's just another way to go about it.

If you use either of these National Registry processes, please be aware!...

Once you have completed the registry form and had the swab tested you will go on to the national registry for everyone. There are about 6,000 patients a day searching this registry for a match, so if you do not intend to be available for them, this may not be the best way to go as you could get someone’s hopes way up if they find you as a match and then hugely disappoint them if you decline to complete the process. There is no way to participate in the national registry specifically for only Marcia… you will go on to the national list, although you can of course decline a request that comes from being a match for someone else. One of the registry information pieces says that “Volunteers should be committed to helping any patient”…

In order to be tested specifically for Marcia only and not use the national registry donor process, you can contact the Kashi Clinical Laboratories at http://www.bonemarrowtest.com/ or 1-877-527-4452 to order a cheek swab kit in the mail which you will then complete and return to them for the testing. This costs about $175.00 for their standard kit or $375.00 for a STAT Kit which offers the fastest turnaround time of 2 to 4 working days to obtain your results. The results will then be forwarded to Marcia’s healthcare team.

We realize that this is a lot of information however we are receiving so many inquires about how to be tested to donate that we wanted to take the time to get it right. Perhaps some of you will be inspired to become potential donors for any of those folks who are waiting for just the right match. You just might be the answer to someone's prayers!