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Community Corner

"Be The Match" Bone Marrow Drive

First United Methodist Church is sponsoring a bone marrow registry drive on December 11, 2013. 
Representatives from Be The Match  will be in the Atrium from 3:00 p.m.
to 7:00 p.m. to facilitate the drive.  Only potential donors between the
ages of 18 and 44 are currently eligible to join the registry. 
 
The following is information from Be the Match about joining the bone marrow registry:
 
Thousands
of patients with leukemia, lymphoma, severe sickle cell and other
life-threatening diseases need an unrelated marrow donor transplant.  In
fact, 70 percent of patients in need of a transplant do not have a
matching donor in their family.  They depend on the Be The Match
Registry to find a match and to get a second chance at life. Many
patients do find the life-saving match they need, but more support is
needed to be able to help all patients.  Even with a registry of over
10 million, there are patients waiting and hoping, unable to find a
match. 
 
We are really desperate to add minorities to our
Registry.  There are simply not enough racially or ethnically diverse
members on the Registry to meet the needs of patients.
 
It only
takes about 15 minutes to join the registry!  After being educated on
the donation process and signing a consent form, potential donors give a
cheek swab sample that will be tested for their HLA (DNA) typing. They
will then be listed on the national registry.
 
The first thing that people say to me when I mention a marrow transplant is "doesn't it hurt if I donate to somebody"? 
 
1.  About 75% of the time, the donation is done through blood donation, similar to donating platelets or plasma.  
 
2. 
About 25% of the time the donation is done through surgical marrow
extraction, you are under general anesthesia.  This procedure is usually
done if you match a child.   It is important that we spread the word
about the two ways of donating.  People believe the crazy things that
they have seen in movies and television shows. 
 
We are
especially looking for donors between the ages of 18 and 44.  Research
shows that cells from younger donors lead to more successful
transplants.  That's because younger donors produce more and
higher-quality cells than older donors.  Effective October 1, 2012, 
only potential donors 18 - 44 years old can join the registry at a live
drive.
 

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