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  Parlour (Fun Stuff) | Index of Articles & Essays

It's funny how life goes, sometimes.  I took my 88 year old Dad in to hospital the other day -- he'd been feeling a bit weak and "oh, by the way, my stool was black this morning."

It turns out he had a major bleed from a stomach ulcer, likely caused by anti-inflammatory meds he was taking. He required 10 units of blood in the ICU, the bleeding finally stopped, and he's recovering nicely.

He felt bad about "using up all that blood on this old guy."  But he had given blood many, many times in the past.  We told him that the bank was just paying him back a dividend on all those deposits that he had made as a "youngster."

"Give when you can, get back when you need"... it's the way the world should work.  And giving blood is a wonderful, selfless gesture, of course, "the gift of life," as they say.  But today, this New Year's Day 2002, I'd like to tell you about a simple, direct action that YOU can do that is
truly THE gift of life... a life that ONLY YOU can save.

I'll finish the story...

While in the Emergency Room for my dad, I read an article that had been thumbtacked onto the ER's bulletin board.  It was about my favorite professor back in medical school days.
He was the kind of person you want to emulate -- a caring and gentle human being, and a wonderful physician.  And, many years later, he was also the gastroenterologist who
took care of me when I was very sick.

I knew that his son, himself a doctor and the father of two small children, had leukemia and was in remission.  But the article went on to explain that the leukemia had recurred, and that his son now required a bone marrow transplant. They had organized a local community drive -- over 1,000 people came! They were tested and registered on the Canadian bone marrow donor registry, which ties into a worldwide one composed of over 7,000,000 potential donors.

Today, there are tens of thousands of patients around the world in that very same boat... desperately seeking a bone marrow match.  This New Year's Day could be the last they'll ever see... not much joy in that vision.

The first place they look is to family members of course (the genetics make them the best candidates to find a match). But if that fails (70% of the time), finding a match means looking to unrelated donors.

Canadian Blood Services, which operates the Canadian Registry, says that some patients may find multiple matching donors from this group.  But for others, finding even a single donor can be a long-shot.

The reason is that even though there are a LOT of donors worldwide, this donor base still isn't sufficiently diverse.
You see, matching donors to patients isn't just a matter of having MANY DONORS but also having many DIFFERENT donors.  People of Caucasian descent, but also people with different
ancestries -- Aboriginal, Asian, African and East Indian.

All of which got me thinking (uh-oh!)...

The Net would be a powerful way to help build a larger, more diverse registry. LOCAL drives are nice, but they RARELY result in matches for the patients who spearhead them. After all, a database of 7,000,000 has a much better chance of delivering a match than do a few hundred friends.  And if those people ONLY get tested for one single friend... what a lost opportunity to make that bone marrow available to EVERYONE who is in this heart-rending, terrifying situation.

What's needed is a large, stable, committed -- and most importantly diverse -- GLOBAL donor base.  And THAT is where the power of the Net comes in (that, and a little VIRAL MESSAGE-SPREADING, as you'll see at the end of this message).
 
To register as a bone marrow donor, you have to be healthy and willing to donate bone marrow to anyone in need.  If your ancestry includes non-Caucasian individuals, so much the better.

If you become one of the small percentage of people who actually gets a chance to donate bone marrow, you won't know anything about the person you're helping.  You may one day get a chance to meet that person, or you may never know who it is.  But that's not the point...

IF YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD, if you've ever wanted to give someone one last chance at life (give a whole family one last chance really), where perhaps YOU are the ONLY one who do this, if you've ever wanted to do ONE truly selfless act for someone else, start this bright new year 2002 by registering as a POTENTIAl marrow donor.  The "dividends" paid back to you are profound.  Why?

Well, not to put too morbid a point on it, "regular" organ donation is also a great and generous gift.  Unfortunately, you have to die before your organs are harvested.  So yes, sign your organ donor card, but hope that it's a long, long time before anyone ever "uses" your heart!   ;-)

However, in the event that you are ever LUCKY enough to actually donate your bone marrow, it's a relatively minor procedure (as we'll see in a second).  YOU get to stay alive, KNOWING that you've done someone a life-saving favor.

That, dear reader, is indeed a profound dividend.  Here is what it feels like...

http://www.marrow.org/STORIES/DONOR/dodiary.html

How to Register as a Potential Marrow Donor

It's simple really... just a regular blood test. A lab analyzes it and you are placed on the registry (a database of potential donors).   The information is strictly confidential.

The registry's database can be searched by transplant center coordinators, worldwide (all of the major registries' databases hook up to each other).  If your Human Leukocyte Antigen Tissue Type (which equates to your genetic human fingerprint) matches that of a patient, you'll be asked to have another blood test to see if you are an EXACT match.

If you ARE an exact match, you get to possibly save a life (as with any medical procedure, there are no guarantees -- but a bone marrow transplant is often a person's only remaining hope)!  Donating involves relatively minor surgery (under general or spinal anesthesia), at no expense to you.

The bone marrow is sucked via needle from the iliac crest, that big bone that sticks out at each side of your lower back (often wrongly called the "hip bone" -- the hip bone is actually the top of your thigh bone). Usually, you go home the same day.  For more info on the procedure...

http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/steps_of_donation.html

If you are in the United States, and are interested in joining the NMDP Registry, review this to make sure your health permits it...

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/eligibility_guidelines.html

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/health_history_questionnaire.html

Here's how to join a Registry...

If you are in the U.S.A...

Contact a National Marrow Donor Program ("NMDP") Donor Center near you to arrange to have a blood test.  There may be a charge, or often you can donate blood at the same time to cover the fee... talk about "healing two birds with one needle!"   After that first test, THERE IS NEVER ANY FURTHER CHARGE TO YOU.

Here's how to find the center nearest you...

http://www.marrow.org/cgi-bin/NETWORK/map.pl?ctr_typ=DC


There is a even more desperate need for ethnic donations, so the NMDP has established Recruitment Groups to work in tandem with NMDP Donor Centers.  They specialize in educating and recruiting volunteer donors from minority populations. Each recruitment group works with at least one community focus: African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native.

http://www.marrow.org/cgi-bin/NETWORK/rec_group.pl

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Information about the Canadian Registry is at...

http://www.bloodservices.ca/
(Click on "English" to get the english translation, then click on "Bone Marrow Registry" in the left margin.  The direct URL was way too long to include here cleanly.)


For my home province of Quebec...

http://www.hema-quebec.qc.ca/E/donneur/fe3c1.htm

In Canada, registering is free.  To qualify to register in Canada you must reside in Canada.

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And here's a complete list of registries from 38 countries around the world, including additional ones for the U.S....

Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide
http://www.bmdw.org/Addresses/AllRegistries.html

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Start 2002 in a valuable, selfless way, as soon as possible.  Do it before the everyday rush of life pushes this to a back burner.  The deposit (of your unique genetics) that you make today could be the dividend that YOU receive tomorrow.

Save a life.  Make that special difference that only YOU can make. Here's how...

1) Join your local registry (see above for details).

2) Forward this article to five friends. If you publish an e-zine, copy and paste it and mail it to your subscribers.  Include this part so that they forward it, too (or include it in their e-zines).   No need to mention anything more about the author or where this came from.  After all... This is NOT about e-commerce.  It's about using the Net in the most positive way possible.  It's really about YOU, about *ALL OF US TOGETHER* starting 2002 in a brilliant, bright manner... by making a difference to someone else in the most profound way possible.

I wish you and your family the very best,
Ken