Gift of Life Marrow Registry, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives by facilitating blood stem cell and marrow transplants for patients. The registry recruits volunteer donors who are matched with patients who are battling with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood related diseases. The registry houses its own state-of-the-art stem cell collection center, biobank, and laboratory. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. Learn more about Gift of Life's history and mission.

Gift of Life is accredited by the World Marrow Donor Association since 2008, is an affiliated registry of the National Marrow Donor Program (United States) and licensed by the New York State Department of Health. The organization is registered with the State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and is recognized by the State of Florida Department of Health as a Florida Cancer Center of Excellence. Click here to review our other accreditations and certifications.

Annual reports are available to the public on our website. Click here.

Gift of Life has stringent security practices both online and within our facilities. We do not sell your information and do not disclose it to unaffiliated third parties. When a hospital searches our database of donors, they only see your unique ID number without any personally identifying details. Even when you donate blood stem cells or bone marrow, the patient and hospital do not know your name or location, just your unique ID number. Click here for our privacy policy.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry focuses on curing blood cancer, inherited immune disorders, sickle cell disease, and related diseases, by facilitating the donation and transplant of blood stem cells and marrow. Our organization does not facilitate organ transplants such as kidney, liver, cornea, or other organs. Two unrelated organization, Gift of Life Donor Program, located in Philadelphia, Penn., and Gift of Life Michigan, connect donors with recipients for these transplants. Neither organization is connected to the Gift of Life Marrow Registry which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry houses the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Collection Center within its headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. Gift of Life donors can donate their blood stem cells in this state-of-the-art facility which offers an incredible donation experience in a spa-like environment. Following the donation, a specially trained courier takes the cells to the patient, wherever in the world they are located. Visit the collection center website to learn more.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry operates the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy from its headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. The center offers moderate and high complexity testing, cell processing, and cryopreservation services to biopharmaceutical innovators and researchers To learn more, visit the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy website.

Gift of Life Biologics is a stand-alone organization offering cell and gene therapy developers and researchers a source for high quality, consistent, and cost-effective starting material delivered in a timely way. Visit the Biologics website to learn more.

For more than 75 life-threatening conditions, including blood cancer, genetic immune system disorders, and other inherited conditions like sickle cell disease, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may not be enough to bring about a cure. When no other treatment works, a physician may recommend a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) or marrow transplant to save a patient’s life. These transplants are the only known cure for some diseases. The transplant replaces the diseased marrow with healthy cells that create new marrow, a new immune system, and blood cells free of illness. Learn more about why donors are needed.

Patients who receive transplants range from babies to seniors in their 70s. For most patients receiving a transplant, chemotherapy or radiation therapy has not been sufficient to eliminate the disease, and their best hope is the transplant. For some diseases, a stem cell or marrow transplant is the only known cure at this time.

More than 75 diseases can be cured through a blood stem cell or marrow transplant. The main categories of diseases in this group are blood cancers (leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma), sickle cell disease, myeloproliferative diseases, inherited anemias like Fanconi and Diamond-Blackfan anemia, inherited immune system disorders such as Hyper IgM, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, and other, similar conditions.

For a blood stem cell or marrow transplant to be successful, the donor and recipient must share the same Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA). HLA are inherited, so the chances of a patient finding a match are higher with donors who share a similar ancestry. Due to the lack of diversity in the registry, some groups have a much lower chance of finding a donor, for example, only 29% of Black and African American patients are able to find a match. Gift of Life is committed to diversifying the registry. Click here to learn more.

Yes! Gift of Life works with research institutions to help find donors with specific profiles for research into new cellular therapies for cancer and other diseases. When you register as a volunteer donor, you may be called as a match for a patient, or possibly as a donor for a research project. Donating for research is voluntary and does not prevent you from donating to a patient in the future. Click here to learn more.

Volunteer donors are needed to give blood stem cells or marrow for transplants to save the lives of children and adults fighting blood cancer, sickle cell disease, and inherited immune system disorders. You have the power to cure cancer with a small number of cells! For the transplant to work, you and the recipient must be a tissue type match, but matches are rare, so the more people who join the registry, the more lives can be saved. When you’re in the registry, you could get the incredible opportunity to save someone’s life. Learn more about why donors are needed.

There are two ways to join the registry:

• Order a swab kit online to be sent to your home, or
• Visit a donor recruitment drive in your area
Whether you get a kit at home or go to a drive, you will first complete the registration information including a few health questions, and then use the swab kit to swab the inside of your cheeks. If at home, return the kit in the postage-paid envelope we provided. If at an in-person drive, hand the completed kit to the team at the table.

Anyone 18 to 35 years old and in general good health may join the registry. In the United States, you will remain on the registry until your 61st birthday. Those under 18 years of age may pre-register to receive a swab kit after their 18th birthday.

The best chance of finding a match is between two people who share a similar genetic heritage or whose ancestors originated in the same geographic region. The factors used to match donors with patients are inherited, similar to the way hair and eye color are inherited from our parents and ancestors. But many populations are underrepresented in the registry, making it extremely difficult to find matches for patients. Those of mixed race face a particularly difficult challenge due to their unique tissue type profiles. There is an urgent need to diversify the registry – every patient deserves a second chance at life. Click here to learn more.

No! Starting in 2001, Gift of Life became the first registry in the world to use cheek swabs at donor recruitment drives, eliminating the need for blood tests to join the registry. Cheek swabs are now the global standard. However, if in the future you are called as a preliminary match for a patient, you will be asked to take a blood test to confirm you are the best match for that patient and are in good health for donating.

Some medical conditions or past illnesses may prevent you from joining the registry or donating. You will take a short health questionnaire when you register. If you are later matched with a patient and invited to donate, you will receive a thorough medical exam. Click here to review a list of conditions affecting donor eligibility.

You can join the registry if pregnant, but you may not donate during pregnancy. Women who have recently given birth are deferred from donating for four months.

Gift of Life typically does not register donors from other countries, though Americans living abroad may join. If you live outside the United States, please join the registry in your country of residence. The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) maintains a current list of all registries it has certified worldwide,

In most states, you must be 18 or older to join the registry. Several states including New York, New Jersey, and Florida now allow those aged 17 to complete a swab kit. Teens can pre-register with Gift of Life to receive a swab kit mailed to their home on their 18th birthday. Only those aged 18 and older may donate stem cells or marrow. Visit this page to pre-register.

As a nonprofit organization, Gift of Life relies on the support of foundations and individuals to process swab kits and save lives. It is our responsibility to make the best use of every dollar, and more than 90% of donors called for transplant are between the ages of 18 and 35. Because donors 36 and older are much less likely to be called, we ask them to pay for their own kits so other funding can be used to process those donors most likely to be called for a transplant. Click here to learn more.

By international agreement through the World Marrow Donor Association, all accredited registrations have an upper age limit for donors not to exceed 60 years. This limit is based on medical facts: patients have a much higher chance of survival if their donor is younger. Learn more about why this age limit is in place.

This YouTube video demonstrates the cheek swab kit.Your kit may look slightly different.
To get started, complete the information requested on the kit’s flap. Your swab kit contains either three or four swabs. Using one swab at a time, brush the swab against the inside of your cheek for approximately ten seconds. Do not let anyone else handle the swab and do not put it down. Place the completed swab inside the kit and use the next swab in a different part of your cheek or the other side of your mouth. After all swabs are completed and inside the kit, seal the kit but do not remove the flap.

Your registration package contains a pre-paid return envelope addressed to Gift of Life. Simply put your kit in the envelope – double check that you filled out the flap and sealed the kit – then drop the envelope in any mailbox.

Please call our switchboard at 561-982-2900 or 1-800-962-7769 and request a new postage-paid envelope to be sent to you. If you want to pay your own postage, you can mail your kit to 5901 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 600, Boca Raton, FL 33487.

After arriving back at Gift of Life, your kit is given an ID number and sent to a testing laboratory. The cheek cells collected in the swabs are tested to determine your Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) profile, and it is this information that determines matches between patients in need and their lifesaving donors. Your HLA profile becomes part of Gift of Life’s anonymized database, which transplant centers around the world can search for matches. If you are ever a match for a patient, Gift of Life will contact you about your opportunity to save a life through a stem cell transplant or marrow transplant.

Check the Events Calendar on our website. If there is no recruitment drive in your area, you can order a swab kit that will be sent to your home.

During registration, you will complete a brief health questionnaire to ensure you are in general good health and qualify to join Gift of Life’s registry. If you are someday selected as a potential match, you will complete a more comprehensive Health History Questionnaire to ensure that donating is safe both for you and the patient in need.

Yes, Gift of Life has robust security measures and systems in place as detailed in our Privacy Policy. The information shared with the worldwide registry is limited to your gender, age, HLA profile, and donor number only. No information is shared with unaffiliated third parties, and we never sell data. Click here to review our privacy policy.

If you are found as a donor match for a patient, Gift of Life will reach out to you in multiple ways – via email, phone, and text – as timing of transplants is urgent. If we are unable to reach you, we will call your alternate contact. You can keep your contact information updated by logging in at Gift of Life’s home page, or by visiting this link and selecting “Update Contact Information” from the pulldown menu.

Donating peripheral blood stem cells is an outpatient process done at a collection center that typically takes 4 – 6 hours. In rare cases, a donor may be required to return for a second session on the next day. If this is likely, the donor will generally be informed in advance.

Donating marrow is an outpatient procedure performed in a hospital surgical suite. The donor is under general anesthesia for the process, which takes 1 – 2 hours. Donors can return home after recovering from anesthesia.

Learn more about these two donation methods.

The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984 prohibits the sale of organs and tissues for transplantation. The act makes it illegal to buy or sell organs, including marrow, peripheral blood stem cells, and other tissues. However, the law does not prohibit reimbursement of expenses incurred during the donation process, such as travel expenses and medical tests needed to prepare for donating. Click here for the text of Title 42, Section 274e.

There is no cost to blood stem cell or marrow donors for their donation, as Gift of Life covers your medical examination and blood tests. If any travel is required, we also cover the transportation and hotel, and we provide a meal stipend.

Learn more about Gift of Life ensuring that there is no cost to you for donating.

In general, we find that employers and school administrators are very supportive of employees and students who volunteer to donate stem cells or marrow. Regarding leave for employees, we recommend that you check your local State Regulations on Donor Leave to see what rights you may have as a volunteer donor. The regulations about time off work for donating vary from state to state, and may depend on whether one is a Federal, state, or private sector employee.

Our chart gives an overview of these regulations, but to understand details or see recent changes, please check your state’s current regulatory status. Click here for our chart of Donor Leave Regulations.

Donor age is strongly correlated with long-term patient survival. Research shows that stem cells from younger donors provide the best outcome for patients, so when possible transplant centers prefer donors between 18 and 35 years old. Click here to learn more.

Gift of Life has robust security measures in place both online and within our facilities. Your information is never sold or shared with unaffiliated third parties. Your name and contact details are never shared with the patient or their Transplant Center. Review our Privacy Policy.

Joining Gift of Life’s registry and donating are completely voluntary. You may request to be removed from the registry at any time. If you are called upon to donate stem cells or marrow, you have the choice to proceed or decline.

However, after you have indicated your intent to donate, the patient begins to prepare for the transplant with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy to wipe out their marrow in preparation for the transplant. At this point, without the donation of your cells, the patient will not survive.

When you join the registry with a cheek swab, your tissue type profile is added to our database. A blood stem cell or marrow transplant can only work if the tissue type of the donor and the recipient are a close enough match. Transplant physicians can search Gift of Life’s anonymized database to identify potential donors for the patient. After a match is found, an additional test ensures that the donor selected is the best match available for the patient. Learn more about how donors are matched with recipients.

The cheek swab kits are tested for Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA), an important part of the immune system. HLA are inherited from our parents, like hair and eye color, so the best chance of finding a match is with someone else of similar ancestry or genetic heritage. Click here to learn more about HLA matching.

Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a member of the World Marrow Donor Association, which manages the international stem cell and marrow registry database. Registries from countries around the world share their donors’ anonymous antigen profiles with the database so that patients are able to locate potential matches outside their own country. Donors’ personal identities are protected; only the donor’s antigen profile, age and gender are made available.

The most important factor in determining a match is the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) type. The goal of the transplant is to completely replace the patient’s marrow with healthy cells free of disease. The transplanted cells will form new marrow and begin producing blood and immune cells. If you and the patient have different blood types, then following a successful transplant the patient will have your blood type. Learn more about blood type and transplants.

In any given year, approximately 10 percent of registered donors are identified as a potential match, and one in every 1,250 donors will donate PBSC or marrow.

Only about 30 percent of patients find a matching donor within their family, usually a sibling. The other 70 percent of patients must rely on the registry to search for an unrelated, matching donor. To learn more about matching within families, click here.

No. While some patients have several matches, others have only one match available, or none at all. When a patient does not have a donor in the registry, Gift of Life can work with them and their families to run targeted donor recruitment drives in the hopes of finding a suitable donor. Because the matching factors are population specific, the more diverse the donor pool is, the more likely that matches will be found. Learn more about how matches are found and why ancestry is the key to success.

When a patient has multiple potential matches in the registry, their transplant physician will evaluate each donor’s specific tissue type to determine which of them is the best match for the transplant.

The matching factors used to pair donors with recipients are population specific. Because some populations are under-represented in the registry, it is more difficult to find matches for patients of that ancestry or genetic heritage. Donors of non-European and mixed ancestry are urgently needed to join the registry so that every life can be saved. Gift of Life is actively working to diversify the registry. You can help by joining the registry, or running a donor recruitment drive in your community.

The cells collected for transplant are called Hematopoietic Stem Cells (hee-MAT-oh-poy-ETT-ick) and these can be found both in the circulating blood (peripheral blood stem cells) or in the bone marrow. The cells are collected for transplant are the same, but the method of collecting them may either be from the peripheral blood or from the marrow. Marrow is typically recommended for infants and children and is less than 10% of collections. More than 90% of collections today use the peripheral blood stem cell process. Learn more.

A peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation is an outpatient procedure conducted at a collection center, blood clinic, or hospital. Your blood stem cells are collected from your circulating blood via a needle in your arm. Blood is drawn from one arm, passes through the apheresis machine where the stem cells are collected, then the remaining blood is returned to your other arm. Stem cell donors receive Filgrastim for five days before donating, to encourage the development of extra stem cells and to move them into the blood stream. PBSC donation typically takes four to six hours, and about 90% of transplants today are done through PBSC donation. Click here to learn more.

Marrow donation is an outpatient procedure conducted in a hospital. You are under general anesthesia and the process takes one to two hours. Donors generally go home after the procedure. Marrow is collected from the iliac crest of your pelvic bone (hip bone) using a syringe. These transplants make up only about 10% of transplants today, and are usually requested for young children. Click here to learn more.

No, marrow is not collected from the spine. Marrow is found in the large bones of the legs and arms and within the pelvic (hip) bone. For transplants, it is always collected from the iliac crest of the pelvic bone – the spine is not involved. Click here to learn more.

The type of collection – blood stem cells or marrow – is requested by the transplant physician, who will choose the method to give the best results for the patient. If you express a preference for one method over the other, we will pass the request on to the transplant physician.

There may be some minor side effects from either form of donation, but these donations have been done safely for decades.

Before donating blood stem cells, donors receive a medication called Filgrastim to stimulate the growth of stem cells and encourage them to move into the circulating blood. Filgrastim has been used safely for this purpose for more than 30 years. For some donors, it produces headaches and aching bones, which are treatable with Tylenol and dissipate soon after donating. Some donors experience bruising on their arms where the needles were inserted.

Marrow donors do not take Filgrastim, but after donating may feel a back or hip ache for several days, treatable with Tylenol. For both types of collection, donors are asked to refrain from exercise and lifting heavy objects for a week or so as they recover.

Yes. Like most cells in your body, your blood stem cells and marrow are constantly producing new cells as older cells die off. Removing a small amount of these cells for donation does not have any adverse impact on you. For stem cell donors, the use of Filgrastim produces extra stem cells that are collected during donation, leaving donors where about the same number of cells. Marrow regenerates normally on its own within a few weeks.

Gift of Life does not have this information. The transplant doctor is the person who has all the search results and knows if there is more than one donor. Because matches between people are so rare, it is possible that you are the only match and this patient’s only hope.

Yes, if you are called as a match but are not selected to donate this time, your profile remains in the registry and you may be called again in the future for another patient. Note that most donors requested are between 18 and 35 years old. You will remain in the registry until your 61st birthday, and may still be called at any time.

When a donation is cancelled it is typically because the patient and their physician chose a different course of treatment, or they may not be ready for transplant at this time. Your profile remains in the registry and you may be called again in the future.

Donors are sometimes asked to give a booster of white blood cells (a donor leukocyte infusion) a few months after the transplant to help their recipient in the recovery process.

More rarely, a donor may match with an entirely different patient and have the opportunity to save another life.

Your cells are transported via courier to the transplant center and given to the patient via an intravenous transfusion. The cells naturally find their way into the marrow and begin producing new, healthy marrow, blood, and immune system cells. The patient will remain in the hospital for a time to ensure the transplant has been successful. Learn more.

Because your cells will give your recipient an entirely new marrow system, they will now have your blood type, and typically also share your allergies. Learn more.

The transplant centers are requested to send periodic updates to Gift of Life during a recipient’s recovery. When we get an update, we will pass the news along to you. However, their notification schedules may differ, and not all transplant centers send updates.

In the United States, blood stem cell/marrow transplant donors and recipients must remain anonymous for the first year but may exchange letters or cards that contain no identifying information. To initiate contact after one year, both parties must agree to exchange information. Outside the United States, every country has its own policies; many have a one-year waiting period like the U.S., but some require a two-year waiting period. Others only allow anonymous letters, and some do not allow any contact. Learn more.

Donors registered with Gift of Life may be invited to donate white blood cells or blood stem cells for a medical research project. These projects often need a specific tissue type for the development of new treatments and cellular therapies. Click here to learn more.

This process can vary depending on the specific request, but in general, is the same as donating peripheral blood stem cells. Donors giving white blood cells for a patient or T-cells for medical research do not receive Filgrastim before donating.

Yes, you will remain in the registry as a potential donor and if you are ever a match for a patient you will be notified.

The first successful marrow transplant (hematopoietic stem cell transplant) was completed in 1959 between identical twins, one of whom had leukemia.

Dr. E. Donnall Thomas earned the Nobel Prize in 1990 for establishing marrow transplantation as a method of curing leukemia and other diseases.

Although human leukocyte antigens were discovered in 1958, the crucial role of these antigens in the success of transplants was not understood until 1969.

Peripheral blood stem cell transplant was first introduced in 1986 as an alternative method of collecting hematopoietic stem cells instead of drawing marrow from the hip bone. Today, 90% of transplants are of blood stem cells, and only 10% are marrow, usually collected for pediatric patients.

It is simply easier and less expensive to collect blood stem cells from the circulating blood than it is to collect marrow from the pelvis. Stem cell collection does not require a hospital facility, while marrow collection must be done in an operating room. Both are outpatient procedures, and the same type of cells, hematopoietic stem cells, are collected in both instances.

In 2021, a total of 22,827 hematopoietic stem cell transplants (this includes both marrow and blood stem cells) were completed in the United States.

No, a stranger may also be able to donate if they share the same tissue type as the patient. In fact, more donations are completed from unrelated donors than related donors. There is about a 30% chance of finding a related donor among siblings and family members, but 70% of patients must search the registry to find a matching donor.

Most of those invited to donate are between 18 and 35 years old because younger donors are generally in good health. Since male donors tend to have more bone mass than females and can produce more stem cells, they are often chosen as donors.

No. For the safety of both the mother and child, women who are pregnant are deferred from donating until four months after giving birth. The primary reason is the risk of anemia. With 52% of pregnant women experiencing anemia, donating blood products during pregnancy is not allowed. Women who have given birth must typically wait for several months before being cleared to donate.

There is no risk to a donor’s fertility by donating blood stem cells or marrow. The reproductive system has no part in the donation and is not affected in any way. For stem cell donors, the Filgrastim used to mobilize hematopoietic stem cells into the bloodstream has been used safely in the transplant process around the world since 1991 with with no reproductive effect on donors.

Over the past six decades, a large body of data has been collected about the safety of donating peripheral blood stem cells or marrow. Both procedures are generally safe and have only a few, temporary side effects, such as backache, headache, and sometimes bruises at the collection site. These effects go away quickly after the procedure.

A comprehensive study of Filgrastim, used to help prepare blood stem cell donors, assures us that it is safe to use without producing long-term side effects. Learn more.

5901 Broken Sound Pkwy NW
Suite 600
Boca Raton, FL 33487
800 Number: 1-800-9MARROW (800-962-7769)
Switchboard: 1-561-982-2900
General email: info@giftoflife.org
Click here for contact form.

Gift of Life looks forward to helping you with your search. Please contact Donor Recruitment Director Chris Camacho, ccamacho@giftoflife.org, 561-982-2904.

If you are registered with Gift of Life, log in on our home page to edit your contact information, or visit this page and select "Update Contact Information" from the dropdown menu.