National Bone Marrow Registry (Free to Join during January)
 

http://marrow.org/Home.aspx

I'm on the national bone barrow registry and there's not nearly enough people on the registry to reliably provide a match for people who need marrow, but I usually don't bother trying to push people to sign up because it unfortunately costs money to sign up. (in my case a year or so ago, my employer paid the lab fees for anyone in our company who wanted to do the cheek swab and sign up)

However, apparently American Express is going to pay the lab fee for anyone who orders a kit to join the registry during the month of January, so temporarily it looks like its free for another couple weeks. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, follow the link and click "join the registry". You might never be contacted, or perhaps years down the road some hospital will call you to say you are the only match for someone.

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Thanks for the thread.

How does marrow donating work? I vaguely heard long ago that it's quite painful, but maybe that's a myth or is based on old technology.

I'm on the registry. A couple of years ago a high school chum had cancer and there was a drive to register to find a donor. Unfortunately, it was too little too late.

I doubt it's all that painful. It is a surgical procedure that will probably leave you sore for some days afterward, but you're anesthetized to some degree during the procedure. They are sticking a needle into your pelvic bones.

how much does the hospital charge for the free marrow? My guess is around 1 million dollars.

I signed up

From what I understand, there's apparently two methods, and the doctor makes the call on which method they need to use.

The 1st method (which is now the most common) is they have you take some kind of medication for about a week which causes you to make more of whatever it is they need, then they do a blood draw from one arm into some machine that separates out what they need, returning the remaining blood back into your other arm. No surgery, but one side effect of the medication you take is soreness, and you are pretty much good to go and back to normal a few days after the donation.

The 2nd method (which is now less common) is what most people have in mind, where its a surgical procedure that involves a needle into your pelvic bone to get the marrow. Your back will be sore for 1 or 2 weeks after, and your body replaces the marrow after about 4 weeks.

No idea what the difference is, but there is some kind of difference, and the method they use depends on what the patient needs.

wow, that's cool.

Unless some on here or I know is dying I will pass.

done.