Anyone donate marrow before?

I was thinking of getting tested to be on the list but I also heard donating marrow is NOT like donating blood which is fairly painless.

Anyone donate marrow before?

That is correct, donating marrow is nothing like donating blood. It is a relatively involved procedure and requires multiple doctor visits, sedation, time off work.

But getting on the list only involves having your cheek swabbed. Then they type you and you're put on the registry. You only get a call to actually donate if you're a potential match for someone.

Message edited 10/7/2017 3:45:08 PM.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

My friend did this 2 1/2 years ago. He was on the list for almost ten years before he was called for further testing. He was a match - he went through the donation process which, according to him, "wasn't bad considering what you (me) went through during chemo" -- he had some joint pain and headaches but followed all the instructions and bounced back fairly quickly from the donation. It took, I think, about 6 hours.

He just got word that the recipient is doing very well and would like to start communicating with him.

Another friend was a recipient from a donor in Germany and she's there right now visiting him and his family. She's about ten years out from receiving his marrow and this is the third time she has spent time with him.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

https://www.dkms.org/en/match


You dont always have to go the painful surgical route though of donating. I signed up to be a donor through this site.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

I tired

There is a list of things if you had/have you cannot donate

I had blood clots so was unable to

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

Yes. You first have your cheek swabbed and go into the registry. You might never get contacted... and if you do, there are 2 ways to donate. One is kind of donating blood, they take blood from one arm, from it they take whatever they need, and then back into the other arm. The other way is through surgery with general anesthesia and they take the bone marrow from your lower back. The way to decide which procedure, depends on the illness and the patient, I think.

In both cases, you go priorly to lots of tests and check ups to confirm that you are the best match for it, and to know you don't have anything that could stop you from being a good donor, and also for your own safety.

I got my cheek swabbed in 2009, and in the summer of 2015 I got an email. My guess is that because I'm hispanic, they don't have many hispanics on the registry, so I had higher chances to be a match of someone hispanic. I donated on December 2015... and to be honest, all of those tests felt nothing, when I thought of the good it could come from it. I would do it again, and I would encourage people to do it, or at least start by getting swabbed.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

I along with a few friends and some family got swabbed probably about 9 years ago because someone I knew needed a donor but none of us ever got called.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

Anyone donate marrow before?

There is a pretty detailed explanation on the Be the match website- I signed up over 10 years ago and have not been called but I would donate in a second if I was a match. They ideally like donors to be under 44 years old. I am a huge advocate of signing up—as it has been said you can literally save a life.
I also believe in public cord blood banking for the same reason.

Re: Anyone donate marrow before?

My husband was a match a little over 6 years ago. His recipient didn't need a standard marrow transplant - she only needed his stem cells.

He took meds for 2 weeks in advance of the procedure to stimulate an over-production of stem cells. The procedure itself was done over the course of two days - and it was a blood draw: blood was taken out one arm, run through a centrifuge which removed the stem cells, and then the drained blood was retransfused into his other arm.

He was fairly sick for a few days before and after (totally expected) - but he'd do it again a million times over, just knowing that he gave someone out there a chance at recovery is pretty amazing.

He'd love to meet her - but she doesn't want contact. We get annual updates and know she's alive. It was through DKMS.