After finding out that our adult son has leukemia and will need a bone marrow donation, many have asked us if they can be tested for a bone marrow match. The short answer: the hospital was only willing to test direct siblings, so Caleb and Gabriel were tested, and Gabriel turns out to be a half match! That’s a good thing!
The longer answer, tho, is that anyone up to 61 years old can sign up at https://www.bethematch.org to be a bone marrow donor. Ethan’s search for a bone marrow donor has been extended to the national register, and this is the “route” to get there.
Some common misconceptions and/or questions about the register, donation, etc.:
- You can be as old as 60 and still donate. Donors under 18 require parental permission.
- Donors over 44 will be asked to pay $100, but all others are free.
- Matching couldn’t be easier – it’s done off a swab kit (it used to require a quite-painful procedure, but no longer).
- From what we understand, should you be selected as a match, donation is also not painful – a provider will administer a medication which temporarily causes your stem cells to float in your blood stream. They’ll draw blood and voila! your donation process is complete.
Signing up is easy!
- Head to https://www.bethematch.org
- Click on “Join”
- Follow the steps…
Eventually a swab kit will arrive in the mail, just like with Ancestry DNA, 32andme, etc.
If you want to know more about matching, see this tutorial: https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/transplant/html/hla.html
What if you aren’t a match? No big deal. Unless you’re older, it hasn’t cost a penny to register, and if you aren’t a match for Ethan, there is no telling who you WILL match. I’m amazed at the lack of publicity around bone marrow donation–it’s easy and it can honestly save a life. So even if you don’t think you can be a match for Ethan, give it a go. You might just “be the match” for another person, and save a life along the way!