Bone Marrow Donation

[matrixkeeran]

Hello everyone! Due to the recent news i though i would make an informational post on the forums, in the hope that it gets noticed by all the great people on here.

First off i want to say that i highly encourage everyone to register to donate bone marrow. I have led two bone marrow drives for military members affected by similar circumstances. Registration is easy. If you can brush your teeth, you can donate. All it takes is a few minutes to fill out an information card and swab the inside of your mouth. Those swabs are then tested and added to a database for possible future use. If you were to be found a possible match (very low chance, less than 1 in 5000) then you would be contacted and asked to undergo further matching procedures. You are then (in case of the military) transported to the testing facility nearest to the recipient. A small amount of bone marrow from the hip is recovered and used to make slides to further confirm a match. Only after this has been confirmed would you actually be given the opportunity to donate bone marrow.

Donations like this save lives, and the odds of finding a suitable donor are so small. Every person added to the registry helps. Any person can make a difference.

To the great developers of the butterscotch family i say thank you for bringing even brief moments of fun and relaxation into our lives with your great game development. I know everything will work out and i think i speak for everyone when i say we look forward to all the greatness that will come from your minds and hearts.

V/R
SGT Shu
MLT Lab NCOIC

[bscotchAdam]

Thanks for this! This would be a great place to collect regional donation centers.

In the U.S. the big well-known one is "Be the Match":

http://bethematch.org/

[matrixkeeran]

Thanks!

You could also try contacting any major hospital in your area. If they are unable to perform it there they will know someone who can.

Even though Red Cross mostly deals with Blood donations, they could also be a good resource to find a facility nearby.

[animuse]

I've seen occasional bone marrow donation drives - I registered for it at the LLS walk a couple years ago. If I find any additional places where they do that I'll post it :3

[bscotchsam]

One important clarification - surgical marrow extraction is only used for babies and children nowadays (as in, when you match them), which makes up 25% of the matches. 75% of the time you do what I'll be doing in a few months, which is take a drug that causes your stem cells inside the bone marrow to release into your blood stream. They then have an IV put in your arm (hurts for approximately 0.15 seconds) and cycle the blood through a machine that collects the stemcells and then puts everything else back in your body. Then you just get up and leave!

I talked to Be the Match yesterday and told them they really need to do some better marketing, since most people think you must be shanked in the bone to donate.