submitted by ncsuamy13 on Thursday, March 31 2005 at 2:16 AM
DONATE HOPE, DONATE LIFE!
On April 15th from 11:00 pm - 3:00 pm there will be a Bone Marrow Drive in the Bragaw Activity Room. This is the first time that NCSU has held a Bone Marrow Drive and we really want it go be a successful one! The bone marrow drive process is quite a simple one. At our drive you will come and give a vile of blood. The blood will then be sent off to be typed and will be put in the bone marrow registry. If you are a match for anyone you will then be called and asked if you would like to donate a sample of your bone marrow. This is a very quick process of only 30-45 minutes and is out-patient. The registry is currently in desperate need of minorities. If you are a minority and interested in helping save someone from lukemia please please please consider coming to our drive! If you would like more information please email donate_hope@ncsu.edu Any and all questions are welcome! ! Please let your friends know about this great cause! If you are interested in donating, please email us so that we can make sure that we have enough funding to sponsor you. Thanks!
posted by Maugan on Thursday, March 31 2005 at 6:00 PM
I think this is great. So many cancers are cured from bone marrow transplants and it is a living transplant so it is very sad that there are people who never get a transplant because people are not willing to donate
Oh yea, don't get me wrong. It's wonderful that it's possible. I just wish they could get their test samples from the Red Cross. I guess that would cut into their(the red cross's) profits.
The is somemtimes a fee assessed to join the registery. Are they waiving it for this drive?
Bone marrow has to match at 7 levels to be a great match. There are differences between different races that mean they rarely match as well with someone of a different race.
I had to get a bone marrow transplant for leukemia and I had a donor from Florida. He said he was back to work the day after and was only sore for about a week. The soreness is like muscle soreness after exercising too much. I had to get it done several times so they could get samples of my bone marrow and test it. I had the same type of soreness for about a week but it is nothing debilitating. They also put you out while they do the procedure so you dont feel it. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my donor so is it really a big deal just to give a vial of blood and MAYBE give some marrow? And I will tell you from experience that what the donor goes through is nothing compared to what the recipient has to go through.
Why do they need minorities??? This is because there are far less minorities that get typed for this type of thing. I know in my hometown we did a drive like this and the Army (I think... it may have been the coast guard) paid for all minority typing. Marrow is different from blood type... the more like the recipient the donor is to the donor, the greater the chances it will be more effective.
just for the record, it does not hurt to donate bone marrow. I did it 6 times for my sister who had leukemia and she still lost the battle. And as for Toilet Paper, well your name says it all.
I am the one who posted this message. I am very very very sorry for the error! I meant to write donate_hope@yahoo.com and so I wrote the wrong one. Please please email us at the yahoo address if you are at all interested and I will get you all the information that you need. In answer of a few questions.....there is soreness for a few days after giving bone marrow, but that is if you give it through the hip bone. There is now a new way to donate where they give you a medication for a couple days to increase your stem cell production, then they can take the bone marrow just like giving blood through your arm and filter out the needed cells and then restore the blood back into your body. It takes a little bit longer but it doesn't involve surgery. So if that is your preference you are welcome to give that way also. As for the need for minorities, marrow typing is very specific, matches are found through matching ethnic and racial groups. Currently there is a very small amount of minorities taht have been typed in the registry and we need to increase that because minorities needs transplants just as much as caucasians! Remember, if you are even 1% of anything besides caucasian you can be considered a minority. Minority typing is also free because the need is so great. As far as the cost for being typed, we are taking care of that in our drive. We have been fundraising and have the amount to type a good amount of caucasians. We just need to know who all is interested so we can make sure that we have the amount of funding that we need. Thanks for all your interest! And please if you have any questions or would like to sign up for the drive please email us at donate_hope@yahoo.com! Thanks!
One more reminder---if you are interested in participating PLEASE email us at donate_hope@yahoo.com We need to be able to estimate how many people will be participating so we make sure that the Bone marrow donor association brings enough nurses! Thanks!
If you have had cancer in the past. How long do yo have to wait (in remission) before you are able to give bone marrow? I know for Rex Blood Center it's 10 years.