Question by Kilalita: Are you on the bone marrow/stem cell registery?
I was going to ask this on the cancer board but then I realized that, most people there are already involved with cancer one way or another and are much more likely to have dealt with this, than the general public.

My question is: “Why, in this day and age, are their only 8 million people world wide, listed on the bone marrow/stem cell registery?”

A simply blood test gets you listed and invasive surgery is almost never required. Rather than doing “old school” bone marrow transplants, the required cells can be collected through a regular “blood draw” (Donors will get injections for 4-5 days prior to donation. These injections cause the bone marrow to work heavily and push the “blood stem cells” into the blood stream)

These stem cells can literally save people’s lives and all it takes is a couple days getting blood drawn. (The stem cells replace the immune system, after a cancer patient has recieved very high doses of chemo or radiation and theirs has died)
Typically, if a person gets registered through a place like the “Americans Cancer Society” I don’t believe they foot the cost. When a patient finds a donor, the patietn’s insurance pays for the donor’s stem cell donation.

I am a 25 year old Hodgkin’s lymphoma patient, currently waiting for a donor.
The site: www.marrow.org
Offers to send people the kit, so they can have the blood drawn by a local doctor and sent back to them. But they do charge a fee. (Something like , that is tax deductible)

Organizations like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society often offer financial aid to people suffering from blood cancers or people willing to donate. Their web site is:
www.lls.org

Best answer:

Answer by huggz
I hope you get your transplant soon.
I am on the list and so are my 2 (adult) kids;

What do you think? Answer below!