Bone marrow transplant Volunteer

[JanetRose]

A brother of a friend of mine is going to be a volunteer - what a wonderful opportunity to be able to save a life!

 

[SomePixiedust]

Such a wonderful thing! Matches are not easy to come by, what a fortunate recipient and wonderful donor! Good luck to them

 

[Tink2000]

This is a great thing to do. My mother did this for her brother. What a gift to be able to give.

 

[pixiedustaholic]

Wonderful! I'm on the national donor registry but have never been contacted.

 

[Frantasmic]

Just out of curiousity, are they going to harvest the marrow from the hip bone, or are they going to provide the shots that make the marrow increase and then just gather the donation via blood donation?

It seems it is about half and half what is done these days. I think I'd rather just do the hip bone procedure and get it done with. I've heard the newer technique, where they give you marrow producing drugs of some sort and a few days later is actually more painful because the bones producing the marrow are sore.

If possible, could you provide an update when they are done and have them describe what procedure they used and how it felt?

 

[KandD]

I am getting swabbed tomorrow to see if I am a match for a little girl. Unfortunately I don't think I will be a match because usually the match is someone from the same ethnicity from what I understand.
I guess I will be on the registry after that though so maybe some day I will be able to help someone.

Your friend is doing a great thing!

 

[tink_n_pooh]

Wonderful! I'm on the national donor registry but have never been contacted.

Same here

 

[Mrs.Reese]

I did it about 10 years ago and it hurt. They took it from my hip and I was bruised. My hip basically turned black. I really shouldn't have looked at the needle.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

I received a bone marrow transplant 3 years ago. I will be forever indebted to my anonymous donor.
The process of donating has greatly changed in recent years. Often it is no more serious than giving blood because mostly they just need the stem cells created by the marrow.

 

[acourtwdw]

I signed up yesterday at a local race for the national database Hopefully I can help someone.

 

[Mskanga]

I just sent in my kit last week. A friend of mine received her BMT a few months ago and she is doing well .
My daughter received blood and platelets while she underwent cancer treatment , this is my way to pay forward what was given to us.
I cannot donate blood because of the blood donation guidelines and the fear of mad cow disease.....oh well....

 

[ZachnElli]

A friend of my DD's life was saved 15 months ago from a bone marrow transplant from the list! A 20 year old male college student saved the life of an 8 year old girl! She was given no chance without it and only a 50% chance with it and she is doing fabulously!!

 

[safetymom]

My son recently did this. They harvested the stem cells from his blood. He is glad he was able to donate and hopefully save someones life.

 

[christineann]

I was typed over 10 years ago and have recently updated my registry, but I have not been called as a possible match yet. One of my closest friends died of adult onset leukemia. She had received a bone marrow transplant but sadly, she died of complications from pneumonia. I miss her terribly.