FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRATION

• Who can register as a bone marrow donor?
  • Anyone between 18 and 44 years old and in general good health can register. Go to Bone Marrow Donor Health Guidelines or call the Colorado Marrow Donor Program at 1-800-619-1099 with further eligibility questions. Anyone who is between 45 and 60 and wants to register must do so online and pay a $100 fee.
  • If you cannot register as a bone marrow donor, perhaps you can help fund the cost of someone who is eligible but cannot afford to make a donation. If so, just go to Colorado Marrow Donor Program fundraising website at BeTheMatchFoundation.org to contribute toward saving a life! They are responsible for raising enough money to cover the cost of tissue typing and would very much appreciate your help!

• How does a person donate bone marrow?
  • The doctor decides between two procedures: One involves using marrow donation, in which the donor receives anesthesia and doctors use needles to withdraw liquid marrow from the back of the pelvic bone. This is an out-patient procedure and is becoming far less common than this next way to donate.
  • The more common method today is a non-surgical outpatient procedure and involves collecting circulating stem cells. The donor takes shots for five days before donation (to increase the number of blood forming cells in the blood stream). Then the stem cells are collected through a filtering of the blood as it is removed from the vein of one arm, goes through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells, and then is put back into the other arm.

In either case, the body replaces the bone marrow or stem cells very quickly…

• Where can I find out more about registering as a bone marrow donor?

Just visit the website below to find out all about registering as a bone marrow donor and the experience of donating bone marrow. You will find up-to-date information and read about how important it is to register as a bone marrow donor!

National Marrow Donor Program