CHECK YOUR ELIGIBILITY
Your age, location and current health status are important. Check to see if you can become a blood stem cell donor.
Blood Stem Cells are blood-forming cells that are present in the cavity of your bones. Blood stem cells can be donated in two ways. One is the Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation – collecting the stem cells from the circulating blood of the donor. The other is by harvesting the blood-forming stem cells from the bone marrow located in the hip bones.
Facts about bone marrow donation.
❖ Blood Stem cell/bone marrow transplant is most often the last hope of a cure for different types of blood cancer and disorders.
❖ Blood cancers such as Leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma can be treated with a blood stem cell transplant.
❖ Blood stem cell donation is almost as simple as blood donation. However, it is difficult to find an HLA matched donor for a patient in need. Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are proteins or markers found on most cells in your body. Your immune system uses these markers to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not.
❖ Most registered donors do not get a chance to donate as it is very rare to be identified as a match to a patient with the same HLA Typing. The probability of finding a donor is 1 in 10000 to 1 in a million.
