Register to become a bone marrow donor!

*Update: the lovely Sofia at From PDX with Love asked a great question- Is there any cost to the donor if you are found to be a match (as far as preparation before hand, any doctor's visits related to the donation, or the day's stay in the hospital)? I called DKMS and they told me that there is absolutely no cost to the donor and that all medical bills relating to the donation would be covered under the marrow recipient's insurance. Thanks for the great question Sofia!

I found this bone marrow registration site today when I was perusing teh intranets. They are an organization called DKMS and they are trying to register as many bone marrow donors as they can worldwide. I want to encourage all of you to register, if you can, to become a bone marrow donor. It is so easy! You just fill out a short registration form and they send you a simple kit that you use to swab your cheeks and send it back to them. They collect your sample and check to see if you are a match for anyone that needs a marrow transplant. If not, they keep your information on file until you are 61 incase a person ever comes up as a match for you and needs your marrow.

Some of you may be scared to register because you might be thinking, "What if I'm a match? Don't you have to have surgery to donate it? Isn't it painful?"

While it might be a bit painful, like donating blood, you don't necessarily have to have surgery. There are 2 options. You can have it collected straight from your blood, ala blood donation, or you can have it drawn from your hip bone. The latter being a bit more in depth and would require a one day stay at the hospital. Both options are simple and safe outpatient procedures and just require a few hours of your time with little to do before hand and minimal discomfort afterwards. To me both options seem like a small price to pay to help someone over come a horrible illness like leukemia.

If you still don't think donating your marrow is the right option for you, there are other ways to help- you can start a bone marrow drive, fund raise for DKMS, donate a bit of money to the cause, or simply spread the word about donation on sites like Facebook and Twitter!

About DKMS
"The DKMS mission is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors for leukemia patients. More than 20,000 DKMS donors have helped save lives by donating their bone marrow. DKMS is the largest bone marrow donor center in the world with over 2 million registered donors. However, there are still thousands of patients who cannot find their donor match. DKMS will continue to recruit bone marrow donors until every patient gets a second chance at life."

Click the links below to find out information on:
how to organize a bone marrow drive
how to become a bone marrow donor
how to donate money to DKMS
where to attend a donor drive in your area
how to fundraise for DKMS



What about you? Have you found any worthy causes you think people should join?