Donate Marrow | Rhode Island Blood Center

I Was Saved:

After years of cancer treatment, Wesley needed her perfect match to cure her. She found it in aperfect stranger she now considers her blood sister for eternity.

Michaela's spur-of-the-moment decision turned out to be Wesley's life-saving marrow match -- herperfectone-in-a-million match.

One patient. One donor. That is how life-saving marrow transplant matchesare made. Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia. Thecure isin the hands of ordinarypeople, and it could be you.Through the Rhode Island Blood Center's partnership withBe The Match, the National Marrow Donor Program, you may find you are theone and only match forsomeone who doesn't have one in their family. Make today the day you sign up to save someone's life.

Complete some health questions and forms right here online to sign up. We will send you a cheek swab kit to do the rest. You can also register to become a marrow donor in person at any of the Rhode Island Blood Center's six blood donation centers or mobile blood drives.

A simple cheek swab you can easily complete yourself is all it takes. Donors and patients are matched by their HLA (human leukocyte antigen) type, which is different from matching blood types, and the results of the cheek swab tell us your type.

Once you are on the registry, doctors search for a close match for their patients. You may match someone who has been waiting for a transplant now, or end up being someone's match in the future.

About 1 in 540 people on the National Marrow Donor Registrygo on to donate. The most important thing to remember is that you could be someone's only match and chance at a cure. If you do match, our team will provide a personal information session to learn all the details about the actual donation process.

Stem cells needed for thepatient's marrowtransplant are collected right at the Rhode Island Blood Center througha process that is similar to donating blood platelets or red cells. It's called a PeripheralBlood Stem Cell Donation.You would receive five daily shots in the back of your armto boost thenumber of stem cells in your blood stream. Then you make thedonation, which takes about six hours. Donors can experience bone pain from the stem cell boost. Recovery is usually quick, however --just one ortwo days after the donation is made.

25 percent of donations are made at a hospital under anesthesia soyou do not feel any pain. Doctors remove a small amountof marrowfrom your pelvicbone with a needle. Recoveryis usually quick, though some donors may have aches and pains for several days to a few weeks. Your marrow naturally replenishes itself in fourto sixweeks.

If you match a patient, you have the right to change your mind. However, a late decision to not donate can be life-threatening to a patient. Please think seriously about your commitment before joining the registry. Take the pledge:

Some conditions that would prevent you from becoming a marrow donor:

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Donate Marrow | Rhode Island Blood Center