Not many things in life are as easy as pie and have the potential to safe a life. Registering with the National Marrow has the potential to save a life, and takes no longer than thirty seconds. I can't even eat a slice of cherry pie in under thirty seconds! I decided to look up bone marrow donation somewhat on a whim, after reading 'The Emperor of All Maladies' which is a fantastic biography of cancer in which the principal patient has Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The portrait of this particular cancer that the doctor/author portrays is downright chilling. After filling out information online, a cheek swabbing kit was promptly sent, along with some other information and brochures. I swabbed and sent, it's as easy as 1-2-3-4 (there are four cheek swabs.) I've received all three of my 'welcome e-mails' that detail different aspects of the process and provide some warmth and optimism, without being overbearing. I may be called in six days, six months, six years, or perhaps never, but am I ever glad that I am there in case anyone needs me. If you haven't checked out the Registry's website, please do! There are videos and more much more information about the process and how you can help. read more

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22 years ago when my father was diagnosed with leukemia, his only option for treatment was participating in clinical trials and being a guinea pig for experimental drugs. When the National Marrow Donor Program began in 1987, there were no family matches nor enough donors in the database to provide him with the possibility of having a marrow transplant. Twenty years (as well as my father) have passed since then, and there are still several thousand people each day searching this database for a possible life-saving match. Twenty years have passed and there is still very little awareness of how easily we can all potentially save the life of someone close to us or that of a complete stranger. A few years back when I was at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, I participated in a donor drive which cost me nothing, provided shade from the blazing sun, treated my to cookies and juice, and pained me only for a second while they took a small blood sample. This past year, I was notified that I might be a potential match for someone in need of bone marrow. What took only 30 minutes out of my day could be the first step toward helping another human being live out the rest of his or her life. Disease strikes when you least expect it, even if you live healthily. At the age of 45, with three children and a house that was still being paid for, never having smoked a cigarette in his life, exercising regularly and leading a completely "dry" life, my dad was told he had six months to live. That is not nearly enough time to rally all your friends together to find a marrow match, yet thousands of people are given the same death sentence by their physicians regularly. Lots of very generous people plan to do their part once they are dead by donating their organs. Wouldn't it be great to save someone else's life while still retaining your own? :) Within the next month, there are 17 donor drives within 100 miles of San Francisco and 31 donor drives within 100 miles of New York. Please take a moment to visit this link where you can find donor drives in your area by providing your zip code: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_in_Person/index.html If you have any questions about joining the National Marrow Donor Registry, please click here: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/FAQs_about_Joining_the_Registry/index.html Since 1987, the National Marrow Donor Program has helped more than 25,000 people receive bone marrow or cord blood transplants. Please consider giving them your support!! read more

The National Marrow Donor Program is still making it needlessly difficult for people to donate their bone marrow to those in need. Since I wrote my original review, I was again contacted by NMDP because I was a potential match with someone who needed a marrow transplant. Once again, I was both nervous and exhilarated about the prospect of undergoing surgery. This time, however, I was way more excited, because my recent experience of being in the hospital motivated me to do anything I could to ensure that someone else didn't have to spend more time laid up than he or she absolutely needed to. So I called and spoke with a doctor, and you know what? I was excluded as a potential donor because of preexisting condition called Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF). I spoke with the screening doctor at length about this, and I informed him that I wasn't even sure I had the disease (the only way to definitively diagnose it is with a DNA test) and that my symptoms had really died down to the point that I didn't really even think about it much anymore. Let me be clear: FMF is not contagious. It's a genetic disease of the abdomen that isn't even fully understood. It can cause debilitating pain, but in my case, I can control the pain when flareups occur, and they occur pretty rarely. It has nothing to do with the skeletal system, and it has in no way affected my bones or my bone marrow. I explained all of this to the doctor, but he said that the diagnosis would exclude me from being a donor this time and in the future. When I asked why, he told me that they didn't want me to undergo suffering just to give bone marrow to a complete stranger. Huh? Isn't that kind of the point of medical donation? You undergo discomfort and, yes, pain to donate blood or to be tested for other matches with complete strangers. I told the doctor that I was fine with the pain and that I would sign any pain-and-suffering waiver if it were a legal consideration only, but he just told me they were taking my name off the list. NMDP needs to get its act together. read more

2013/070 Update: We did get a letter from the donor program informing us that the patient had passed away. Although we never knew his/her name, we will always wonder if he/she is related to my husband in some way. We haven't asked for specifics; if the family/patient had wanted to, they probably could have let it be known. It is a very good program, and my husband personally had no financial or health repercussions from it. (Your situation may vary) read more

If you've ever considered being a bone marrow donor, go to the website for more information on sites in your area. I know I'm a healthcare nerd, but if everyone on yelp got their blood drawn, a small group of us might be a match. If those who matched wound up donating, a few lives would be saved. http://www.marrow.org/ read more

I wanted to join the registry to potentially donate bone marrow to a person in need. Because I am over 44 I have to pay $100 to register. Unfortunately I can't afford to pay that, one of the reasons I would like to register to donate bone marrow. I can't give money to these organizations so I thought what I CAN do is register and hopefully match someone who is in need and potentially save a life. Sadly I will not be able to register, but I will continue to donate blood and whatever else I can to help. I gave the organization one star only because of my statement about having to pay. I have no experience with their operations or how the donation process works. I chose to write a review in hope that others in my position would do the same and the organization would change their policy and not charge to register. Again, my review is not based on their services so look to others for that. I don't want to sway anyone from donating if it fits for them. read more

I would advise caution about signing up with this group! Yes, it is nice to save a life. Yes, there is nothing wrong with wanting to help others. But based on my experiences with this group, I would advise caution and encourage the reader to think long and hard before participating. After signing up, I was contacted fairly soon with the claim that I was a match and I was asked to contact the group as quickly as possible! I immediately called and left messages including two phone numbers of where I could be reached at. They only called me at one number and left a message. In other words, phone tag was experienced and they never called my cell phone. They did not start off with a good impression and their lack of basic courtesy was disappointing. If you are going to tell somebody that you need to hear from them as soon as possible, then you should make every effort to return phone calls and emails. They did not do this! I called back an hour later and was hung up on, so I called back again. They really are not making a good impression. After a long wait, I was put in touch with a person who didn't really know all that much about bone marrow transplants or stem cell harvesting. In fact, the person who interviewed me, in my opinion, was very poorly trained and I felt that she was very rude. Again, this is my impression. (Most people have never had training for the phone and this lack of training is very apparent 95% of the time that I deal with businesses or telemarketers!) She asked me if I knew about bone marrow donations and I gave her the short and dirty answer. (My wife is a scientist.) She was surprised at my answers and repeated everything I said, then she said that they don't really inject people with chemicals to stimulate the system if using blood instead of the more traditional way of harvesting from the hip. Now you need to understand that when I gave my explanation about bone marrow and stem cell donation, she read a pre-written script about the procedure and darn near repeated everything I had said verbatim. My answer and explanation was given to deaf ears. You would save time by saying NO, that you didn't know anything about the subject because they are going to read a script anyway! Folks, to harvest from blood, they need to inject you to stimulate your system. In other words, my explanation was correct. What this group really doesn't like to talk about during the initial interview is the fact that these are medical procedures, that all medical procedures have risks. The possibility of having complications is real and the fact is that, as rare as it might be, the possibility of dying is also real. To participate in this program, you will have to sign all kinds of waivers and acknowledge the disclosure's. Again, they don't like to mention this part during the initial interview! I realized that I was dealing with an organization which wasn't interested in my personal well being. That my interests, concerns and questions were not being answered fully. I also realized that the questions these people were asking me were so basic that it had nothing to do with my safety. I didn't appreciate the person being rude and actually providing information that was incorrect and false. When the interview was concluded, I was asked if I had any questions. The fact that I was dealing with an organization that was not being forthright raised many red flags... I requested that my name be removed from the registry. I really regret providing this group with my DNA and medical history. There is no doubt that many people have had a pleasant experience with this group and it is very unfortunate that I dealt with a rude and unprofessional group the day they called. But, I do know a lot about the procedures and risks. I was even willing to take those risks to help another person. But what they didn't understand that while they interviewed me, I was interviewing them. They did very poorly! A lot of money is being made from your "Free" donation. When money is involved, trust me, your interests are not being considered and you need to be very cautious about groups who are not being professional or honest! I would suggest that you look at the reviews on this thread and consider the fact that some of them could very well be from the group itself. That, if true, would be an example of conflict of interest and would show a lack of professionalism. I would advise that you think long and hard about donating your DNA sample to this group. I would also advise that you do a lot of research before participating. Don't rely on them for answers and make sure you read the fine print before signing anything! read more