Demystifying Bone Marrow Screening & Donation

I've received lots of emails from people who are nervous about the marrow donation process. There seems to be a conventional wisdom that the process is "scary," and while people are willing to go through the process for Bonnie, they're anxious about doing it for someone else.

I'm a "medical wimp" (who's married to a physician) and I encourage you to think of it as a two-step process. The first step is easy, and the second step is worth the effort, given the likelihood that you are saving someone's life:

Step 1: The screening process -- determining your HLA type -- is straightforward. "Gift of Life" uses a cotton swab to get a small sample of cells from inside your cheek. The National Marrow Donor Program takes a small blood sample.

Step 2: If your initial HLA type matches with Bonnie (or with someone else who needs a marrow donation), you will be contacted, and an additional screening is performed via blood sample. If you are a match, there are two ways the donation takes place:

1.) Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation (PBSC). Today, the vast majority of donations happen via this technique. An IV is hooked up to your arm and stem cells are filtered out by a machine. This is very similar to platelet donation or dialysis.

2.) Bone Marrow Donation. This donation type was the prevalent technique in the past, but is used much less frequently today. Bone marrow is harvested from the pelvic bone using a needle and local anesthetic.

For both harvesting techniques, above, you are in and out of the hospital on the same day.

I've received a lot of nice emails publicizing "Save a Life This Sunday" for tomorrow's bone marrow donation drive in San Francisco (click here for details).