Bone marrow donation seems to offer social media an easy topic to turn into an eye-catching piece of click-bait – usually by ignoring both reality and common sense. At Gift of Life, it’s our job to tell the truth about the procedure, and while that’s not quite as wild as the misconceptions you can find in social media, it’s still genuinely exciting to save someone’s life. But let’s start at the beginning.
Decades of medical research into blood cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma) led to the discovery that these cancers are caused by mutations that start in the bone marrow, where the blood cells are formed by hematopoietic stem cells. Over time, the concept of curing blood cancer by replacing diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow was tested, and turned out to be possible if the donor and recipient share the same tissue type. The process also works for other blood and immune system related diseases!
More than 70 life-threatening diseases can be cured by a bone marrow transplant, including blood cancer, sickle cell disease, inherited immune disorders, and other conditions. The list is growing over time as our understanding of how diseases are caused – and cured – expands.
Bone marrow is found in the body’s largest bones, the pelvis, the long bones of the arms and legs, and tiny amounts are found in the ribs and some other bones.
A marrow transplant collects these hematopoietic stem cells – the blood-forming cells we mentioned above – and transfers them from a donor to a recipient. There are two ways to collect these cells: draw them from the bone marrow itself, or collect them from the circulating blood in a peripheral blood stem cell collection (PBSC).
The easiest way to get bone marrow is from the spot where the most is available, inside the iliac crest of the pelvic bone – click illustration (left) to see larger image. Collection does not involve taking marrow from the spine, arms, or legs.
Bone marrow collection is recommended by transplant doctors only for specific patients – usually children, and comes from your hip bone. While it was once the main method used for transplants, today bone marrow makes up less than 10 percent of Gift of Life’s donations. If you are called as a match, it is most likely you will donate peripheral blood stem cells, which are collected from the circulating blood using your arm.
For a bone marrow collection, donors go under general anesthesia while a doctor uses a syringe to draw some marrow from the iliac crest. The amount collected depends on how much is needed for the patient, but is only a small fraction of what the body produces. No incisions or sutures are involved. After the marrow is collected, the donor gets a bandage over the collection site, and after recovering from anesthesia, goes home.
Most marrow donors will feel some backache for a few days after donating, and many of them compare it to the ache caused by slipping on the ice. Usually over-the-counter Tylenol will control any discomfort. Donors are also asked not to engage in heavy lifting or athletic activities for several weeks as the area heals. Bone marrow regenerates naturally within a few weeks.
The marrow is packed in a special container and transported by a courier to the transplant center where the patient is being treated. The patient receives the marrow, which is a liquid, through a transfusion in the same way they would receive a blood transfusion. The marrow cells know exactly what to do – they naturally migrate into the recipient’s bones and begin producing new, healthy bone marrow, blood, and immune system cells.
Anyone 18 to 35 years old and in general good health can join the registry at no charge by clicking here to order a swab kit sent to your home. If you are 36 or older it is less likely you will be called to donate, so we ask you to pay for the lab processing of your swab kit. This lets us focus financial resources on the donors most likely to be called to donate.
If you aren’t able to join the registry for some reason, we are actively seeking new volunteers to help run drives and organize events – click here to apply to our Volunteer Network.
You are welcome to sponsor a swab kit for someone else by making a financial contribution. Just click here to become a monthly or one-time financial supporter.
If you have any questions about donating bone marrow, or anything else about the registry, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.