I can’t tell you how many times I have been approached by someone who wants to know, “How much blood do you need for me to be tested to see if I’m a match for someone?” My answer is, “None.” Then I get this quizzical look like he or she is not sure that I really understood the question. “No really, how much blood is needed?” Still my answer remains the same, “None…really.” It is about at this point that he or she walks away, thinking that I’ve been working too hard.
It really and truly is factual that not a drop of blood is needed at the time a donor registers. All it takes is a simple swab of the inside of the cheek to be tested. As a matter of fact, Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation was the first donor registry to test donors using this method since 2000. People from other registries balked at the idea, but to this day, we continue to test every donor the same way. That’s because it’s all about genetics, and the cells collected from the inside of the cheek carry your genetic code.
Here’s the process: a donor walks into a recruitment drive and wants to be tested. The swab kit contains four buccal swabs that look like long Q-tips. One is used to collect cells from the inside of the cheeks on each quadrant of the mouth – upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right. Using pressure equal to that you would use when brushing your teeth, the cells are collected into the cotton part of the swab and returned to the kit to be sent to a lab for processing. It is just that easy, not to mention painless and quick.
Once your sample is processed, and you’ve become active in the registry database, transplant centers and doctors will be able to search your record to see if you are a match for their patient. And as long as you remain in general good health, you can stay active in the registry from the age of eighteen until your sixty-first birthday! Now how cool is that?
Not eighteen yet? That’s okay because you can pre-register with Gift of Life and we’ll send you a Happy Birthday message just before you’re about to turn eighteen to remind you that it’s time to swab. You can pre-register by clicking here.
But what is that you say? You’re older than sixty-one? Can’t make a difference? Well, of course you can! If you’ve got college-age grandchildren, you can sponsor their kit to be tested. Or help Gift of Life by making a donation to test a kit that is currently of the 6,000 on our waiting list. A nominal contribution of only $54 will send a single kit to be processed by the lab and allow one more donor to join the registry. Who knows, that one donor could be the miracle match for a patient in need of a life-saving transplant! Please visit our online contributions page if you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution.
Finally, if you are in South Florida, please come out and join us for our inaugural Walk for Life Walk-a-Thon on Sunday, January 9, 2011! For more details, visit our website.
Jay