What is bone marrow?

Marrow is a substance found inside bones. It resembles blood and contains stem cells, which produce red blood cells, white blood cells and other blood components important for fighting infection, carrying oxygen and helping to control bleeding.

Stem cells, the cells that transplant patients need to make new healthy marrow, usually live in bone marrow, but are also released, in small numbers, into the circulating (peripheral) blood. There are several treatments, such as a bone marrow transplant, that will dramatically increase the release of stem cells into the circulating blood so that enough stem cells for transplant can be collected directly from the bloodstream.

Why register to donate bone marrow?

Each year, thousands of people develop diseases treatable with marrow or blood stem cell transplants. Some of these patients will find a matched donor through their family, many will not. For those individuals, an unrelated matched donor may be their only chance for survival.

The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is dedicated to educating the general public and recruiting volunteer donors who are willing to give the gift of life, their marrow or stem cells. Active recruitment of new volunteers is focused on minority groups because of the need for more volunteer donors from the African-American, Asian/Pacific Islands, Hispanic and Native-American communities.

If you would like to learn how to join the Marrow Donor Registry or for more information on marrow and stem cell donation and eligibility criteria, visit the NMDP's Web site at www.marrow.org.

You can make a difference. Be a marrow donor!