How do I become a bone marrow donor?

Each of the UK Blood Authorities maintains a register and so you need to tell them when you next give blood that you would like your name to be put on a register of prospective donors.

The Blood Authority will then arrange on your next blood donor visit to take some blood to identify your "tissue type" and so it's no more inconvenient than a normal blood donor session. The data about your tissue type is then put in a computerised register so that when a hospital needs to match a patient's tissue they can search the registers and hopefully find a match.

What would happen if my tissue type was a match?

If your tissue type was found to be a close match then you would get a call from the Blood Authority to arrange for some more blood tests. If your bone marrow was found to be the best match the next step would be to organise the donation of some of your bone marrow.

What does donating bone marrow mean?

It will involve your going into hospital for about a day - usually somewhere convenient for you. There you would receive a general anaesthetic and the process involves extracting some of your bone marrow from your pelvic bone. Your bone marrow is rapidly replaced and the only side effects are usually a slight soreness and bruising for a few days. Your bone marrow then goes off for a variety of treatments before being donated to the patient by transfusion methods.

How often would I be asked to donate marrow?

Many prospective donors never get called to donate their bone marrow. It all depends upon whether your "tissue type" matches a patient in need. But if you do become a donor then it's not very likely that you will be called upon more than once. So you see it's a very easy process but by being on the register you're giving someone a chance to live.