What happens at a bone marrow drive?
The object of a marrow drive is to test people’s tissue, so they can be listed on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. The process takes about 20 minutes per donor and is virtually painless. Each person is asked to fill out a medical history questionnaire. If they meet the necessary qualifications, a consent form is signed and a small blood sample is taken from the arm. It’s then sent to a laboratory and the bone marrow type is entered into the National Registry. • It may be a good idea during the drive to offer refreshments. What are the chances of finding a match? The odds vary widely. During a preliminary search of the registry a large percentage of patients do identify a “potential” match. However, not all of the patients who identify a “potential” match at the preliminary search will go into transplant. To insure an identical match final HLA compatibility testing with the patient is necessary.
