The Friends’ efforts are often focused on funding research fellowships. Encouraging registration of volunteer bone marrow donors, however, is also an important part of our mission.

Marrow is a blood-like substance found in the hollow cavities in the bones. It contains stem cells, which produce red and white blood cells and other blood components.

30,000 new patients are diagnosed each year with leukemia or other life-threatening diseases that might be treated with a bone marrow transplant. The success of a transplant depends in part on the close matching of the donor and recipient for antigens determined by the HLA system. About 30% of patients have a family member who can be their donor. Other patients must try to find a donor in the pool of unrelated volunteers.

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 in good general health can volunteer to become a marrow donor. Specific medical guidelines protect both patients and donors, and are available from the donor center in your state.

A small sample of blood can be collected for tissue typing at one of many centers throughout the United States. The cost is generally $35-90. Funding may be available to cover the costs of tissue typing; each blood center can tell you what to expect.

During the actual donation process, marrow is removed with a surgical needle from the pelvic bones. Donors are given either a general or local anesthetic. Usually, four to eight tiny needle punctures are made. The donation procedure lasts between 45 to 90 minutes. Because marrow constantly regenerates itself, the donor’s own body completely replaces the donated marrow within several weeks.

Two hot topics in the realm of transplantation are the use of stem cells and cord blood. As mentioned above, stem cells can be considered the basic building block of blood. Because they can mature into all kinds of blood components, transplants of stem cells rather than marrow are becoming more common. Stem cells are collected by drawing blood through special tubing from a vein, much like the process used for a blood transfusion. Thus the donor does not have to be anesthetized and no operating room is needed.

Blood present in the umbilical cord after the birth of a baby is rich in stem cells. This cord blood, commonly discarded after birth, may be collected and frozen for future transplantation. There are several cord blood storage centers that function in cooperation with local blood banks. Parents have the option of storing the blood exclusively for use within their own family. Blood banks that can store cord blood for private use will charge a fee to do so. Consult your local blood bank for details on its cord blood policy.

Please consider becoming a marrow donor, and tell your family and friends the importance of doing so. You can learn more today by calling the National Marrow Donor Program at 1-800-MARROW-2, or by visiting their website at www.marrow.org.

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