I recently had the experience of becoming a bone marrow donor, and decided to take the opportunity to spread the word about the national need for additional donors.

During medical school my husband and I attended a bone marrow drive, giving a vial of blood and filling out a health history form. I forgot all about it until a few years later, when my husband received a call telling him that he was a match for a woman with leukemia, and asking if he would be able to donate bone marrow for her transplant. He agreed, and a few weeks later gave a donation.

Several diseases can be treated with a bone marrow donation, but forms of leukemia are the most common. In these situations, cancer develops in the blood itself. Sometimes this can be treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In certain cases where these therapies fail, the only other option is a bone marrow transplant. The bone marrow produces the body’s blood supply, and if it is producing cancerous blood cells, it may need to be replaced with healthy bone marrow from a donor. However, 70 percent of patients cannot find an appropriate match in their own family.

This is where the “Be the Match Registry” comes in, a national registry of potential bone marrow donors. Although there are more than 8 million potential donors in the registry, many patients are still unable to find a perfect genetic match. There is a significant need for racial minorities and individuals of mixed race to join the registry, since patients are more likely to find a genetic match within their own race. In fact, the drive that I attended was billed a “minority drive”, although they were certainly happy to register both myself (Asian) and my husband (Caucasian) during the drive.

Now that I’ve been through the whole process, I’m very glad I registered and donated. I only completed my donation last week, so have no word on its success, but am very glad I was able to help someone in such a direct way, as was my husband. Our experiences were quite different, and I hope by illustrating the differences I can make other people more interested in registering.

When my husband donated, the procedure he underwent was actually very easy. He donated by Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) donation, which is the more common way to donate. He took medication injections for 5 days to boost the levels of blood-forming cells in the blood. His blood was then removed in a process akin to dialysis: blood was taken from an IV in one arm, filtered through a machine, and returned through an IV in his other arm. The whole thing took about 4 hours. He felt so good that we went to Cedar Point the next day.

My own donation was a bit more involved. I was unable to take the medication required to do a PBSC donation due to nursing my infant son, so I offered to do a direct marrow donation instead. Under general anesthesia, liquid marrow was removed with needles from my pelvic bone in the lower back. I was discharged from the hospital later the same day. My back is achy and I’m rather tired, but it went well. However, unlike my husband, I wasn’t up to going to an amusement park over the weekend. But I’m very glad I was able to participate in the donor program, and hopefully help someone treat their leukemia.

I hope that you will consider participating in the registry, either by donating to the organization or by joining the registry itself. At www.marrow.org/JOIN you can learn more about registering by mail (you fill out a health information form and they send you a kit so you can swab the inside of your cheek) or in person.

There is a drive on July 8 at the Church of Nazarene in Tecumseh from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call 800-471-3020 ext 7066 for more information.

This article on Bone Marrow donation was written by one of the physicians on the Packard Health staff with Dr. Rion, Jean Wong M.D. Dr. Wong graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 2004 and completed her residency and an academic fellowship at the University of Michigan's Family Practice department, where she was chief resident. Her clinical interests include women's health and children's health. Both she and Dr. Rion can be reached at 734-971-1073 or at info@packardhealth.org. www.packardhealth.org