In the spirit of being the change I want in the world, I signed up for a bone marrow registry today - and until the end of the month, you can sign up too for free!
http://www.marrow.org/
I have problems donating blood (they look at you funny when you show up at a place after passing out the previous time), and while I'm an organ donor (for anything someone can use, BTW), I'll be dead when that happens. Bone marrow and blood-producing cells, however, can be donated while you're still alive, with minimal impact to you.
And until we cure cancer (and HIV, judgind by recent research, see story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602394113507555.html ), there are a lot of lives to be saved out there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Minimal impact to the donor?
I mean, ideally yes. But digging through their pamphlet gives some scary statistics... Only 51% of donors fully recovering in two weeks; 10% of donors requiring a hospital stay of 38 hours or longer; 1.34% of donors having serious complications.
Which isn't to say marrow donation isn't worth it. It's just that they could be a little more forthcoming about all this.
And then there's the scary stuff from the patient side. "If you change your mind after the patient has begun chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment to kill his or her own marrow, the recipient may die if he or she does not receive the transplant." Gee, I'd hate to start the process and then have something screw up. And the 2-year survival statistics, while impressive, aren't exactly reassuring.
Still, I'm looking into it. Despite all the risks, all things considered it still seems like it might be worth it. Thanks for pointing this out; I never would've known about it otherwise.
Offhand, I can't think of any medical procedure which doesn't have a 1% chance of doing more harm than good. You can seriously injure someone by starting an IV on them. You can KILL someone with a spinal injury just by putting them on a backboard to protect their spine.
So, yeah, I assume the 1% complications in any noteworthy medical procedure. I'm also quite sure without even looking deeper that there's at least a 0.0001% chance of death for the donor, probably closer to 0.01%.
Finally, let's not forget the old paramedic caution: "remember, the life you save may take your own."
But let's look at the flip side. Even as a paramedic, I only count myself with one true "save" in my entire life (along with one probable). This is a chance for another. I'll risk a lot more than 1% for that.
That does make a lot of sense. Thanks for the insight, and for bringing this to everyone's attention. I signed up and I'm looking forward to receiving the typing kit in the mail.
And I'm glad I did it in time, because the money ran out and they're no longer subsidizing the kits.
Wow! They said when I signed up that they expected the free signup to run through the end of November!
Well, it is still only $25, and from the sounds of it other sponsors show up now and then.
Post a Comment