TANIA HAS ACUTE MYELOID LEUKAEMIA
AND NEEDS A BONE MARROW DONOR
TO SAVE HER LIFE.
Find out how you can HELP!
I want to help by adding myself to the Global Bone Marrow donor list… what do I do?
Click on our 'register' button on this site and select your country. If you are in the USA or UK they will send you an oral swab test which is sent to you and returned by you via the post.
In Australia you can make an appointment to donate blood with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service by going to www.donateblood.com.au or better still, call them on 131 495.
Do I have to give bone marrow straight away?
Absolutely no. Your HLA gets analysed and the results are sent off to the Global Bone Marrow Donor Registry to be kept on file until your 57th birthday. You may never be contacted to actually become a bone marrow donor. In Australia only 1 in 1500 people on the registry get contacted to be a donor each year.
How are donors selected?
Your tissue type is entered into a global database. When a patient needs a donor, their tissue type will be compared to all the tissue types on the registry. If you match with a patient, you will be contacted for another blood sample to confirm the match and asked if you are prepared to be a donor.
What happens if I am selected as a donor?
Before a donation is made, an independent specialist with detailed knowledge of stem cell donation will assess you medically and answer any questions you may have. All costs are covered.
I want to go on the registry but I've heard if I get called to be a donor its painful.
Peripheral: 90% of people now donate directly from their bloodstream, in a procedure known as peripheral blood stem cell donation (PBSC). You’ll receive a series of four hormone injections to make your stem cells multiply into the bloodstream. Then you’ll head to a clinic, where the stem cells will be extracted from one arm, and your blood returned to the other.
And that’s it. Some people report flu-like symptoms from the hormone injections, but these are usually mild and vanish within a few days.
Traditional: Just 10% of people are asked to donate from the bone marrow itself. This is the procedure that lies at the root of the ‘bone marrow donation is painful’ myth – but in reality, it takes place under general anaesthetic, so you won’t feel any pain while it’s happening. Afterwards, you’ll probably feel a bit tired and bruised, and we recommend that you take a short break from work to recover. But that’s all – and it makes a lifesaving difference.
Additional Resources:
Video's on explaining stem cell donation:
http://mixedmatchproject.com/category/videos/
Video explaining mixed ethnicity challenges: