Has anyone been a bone marrow donor?

[DVC-Don]

I'm in the data base, but I've never been matched to date.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

My life was saved 3 years ago due to the generosity of a stranger! I received a bone marrow transplant after suffering from a very rare illness for over a year. It was from a man in Germany. I wrote him a thank you note, but never heard from him. I hope he did receive it so he knows how grateful I am. Bless you and all donors!!

 

[mumom95]

Thank you for posting this thread. Because of you I am now waiting for my test kit to come in the mail. It's exciting to know that I will be a part of something so important.

You're welcome. I'm so glad you are becoming a donor.

 

[mumom95]

A bone marrow transplant saved my 7 year old neighbor (9 now). They gave her slim to none chances without it and only 50% with it and it worked!! It was also a stranger on the list. You could be literally saving a life this Christmas!! I think our whole neighborhood is on the list because of her bone marrow donor drive!

That's why I'm on the list. A student at the school I taught at was diagnosed with leukemia so her friends put together a drive to see if anyone was a match. I think every teacher in our building got tested and was put on the list, but unfortunately noone from the drive was a match.

I've moved across country since then, but made sure I updated my information after I moved. I get something in the mail every so many years to check and see if my info needs to be updated.

 

[RyeCrimsonMoon]

Oh wow, I didn't know you could donate your marrow to someone who wasn't blood family. After the holidays I'll have to look into becoming a donor.

 

[mumom95]

Hi everyone. Someone else posted something today that made me look back over this one that I started last year. I realized I never updated the results.

I went for the second set of blood work. Got a letter a couple of months later that said the doctor has decided the patient no longer needs a transplant. It stated that it could be because of a few things: 1) the patient is better and no longer needs a transplant 2) the patient is worse and wouldn't be able to handle a transplant or 3) the doctor is trying a different course of treatment

It did say they would contact me if things change. It never said if I was a perfect match for the person, but gave me the impression I was but just not needed anymore.

Just thought I'd let everyone know. I hope some of you were able to get on the list.

 

[lpereira]

I've been registered for about 10 years and have been a potential match two times. Sadly I've never been a donor match. You'll bear no out of pocket costs for it and you will not miss any paychecks you are expecting. I'd still do it even if the above wasn't true. I would hate to have a family member dying when someone walking around could save their life.

 

[traviesojmt]

I just posted this on the other thread:
My DH was put on the registry about 8 years ago. He was contacted this past October that he was a potential match. Since he is military, the entire process was handled by the Dept. of Defense even though the recipient was not military. After being told he was a potential match, they sent tons of info on the process, side effects, what to expect and such. They then sent a kit to our local clinic and he gave a LOT of blood for more blood work. It took another couple of weeks, but we then found out that he was a true match. They really do give you all possible outcomes in order for you to make a decision. They do not want you to initially agree and then back out later.

The next step involved my DH flying to Washington DC (this is where the procedure would take place) over night for an initial exam. A few weeks later, my DH and I were flown to DC for a week for the actual procedure. We learned that doctors have two options when doing a transplant. There is the needle extraction of bone marrow that is more time consuming and painful and then there is a way that they can take the marrow from the blood in a way similar to donating plasma called Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC)

The recipient's doctor chose the least evasive method. My DH received a series of shots over a period of 5 days that were not extremely pleasant. The shots were to pull the needed stem cells from the bone into the blood. The side effects were similar to the flu. He was VERY achy and he said he could almost feel the cells being pulled from his bones. By the third day, he was miserable.

On the fifth day of shots, they do the procedure. It took about 6 hours. He felt almost instantly better.

We actually received an update this week that as of June, the recipient (a 31 year-old male) was disease free and healthy. It was a very interesting process and we were both blessed to be a part of it.

It did not cost us anything out of pocket. All of our expenses were paid. They even paid for my mother to drive down from another state to watch our children while we were in DC. We were each given a daily allowance (more than enough) for food. They even paid for us to board out dog because my mom was going to take the kids home with her when they got out of school.

Sorry to be so longwinded. I want to share that as bad as my DH felt during the injection period, he wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

If you have questions, let me know.