Bone Marrow & Leukemia Awareness

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Dear NT, I want to bring light to this cause that has affected one of our own members. (RIP BREEZYLOCKS!!!!)

This year I have been going through some crazy ****, I got to go on TV last month and talk about my experience of donating bone marrow. I clearly remember the day I posted this thread (http://niketalk.com/t/223827/so-i-saved-a-life), was a life changing moment foreal.

You can hear my donation story with NBC Bay Area on YouTube here - - My boys kept posting #niketalk on my FB posts, so I wanted to share it with my fam here.


At the end of the day, I want everyone to know that it is POSSIBLE. It is as simple as signing up through a cheek swab. Register at your local bone marrow drive or request a kit for free -- bethematch.org or aadp.org will provide it for you. It doesn't matter what ethnicity/race you are. All registrants matter, you bring more hope to those looking for a match.

If you got questions, check this AMA, if not feel free to ask me here --


It hit home again, when I found one of my relatives, although distant, is going through it. She is only 9 years old and needs a transplant. http://fox40.com/2015/04/20/local-girl-looking-for-hero-who-is-a-bone-marrow-match/


Fact: Minorities have a lower chance of finding their match, only a small percentage have signed up for the registry.

Please consider signing up and looking for a local bone marrow drive around you, and if you can't find one, you can request a kit to be sent to you. Although ethnicity plays a factor in finding a match, it is important to get more people on the registry and bring more awareness. There are thousands of patients looking for a match everyday, even though there are 9 million people on the entire Be The Match registry. The only way to fix this problem is to sign up. Thank you NT and I hope you all consider it.
 
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+1 on the info OP

Hope your relative gets that transplant...too young to go through that 
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Thanks all, I'm surprised there aren't really any threads on this subject. I've been volunteering for the past 6 years. If its anyone that can help the most it's the people who are uneducated on the subject. I've had hundreds of people turn the other cheek but I cant blame 'em. More work needs to be done to inform people that the procedure has really no adverse health effects, and that the chances of finding a match is very rare also.
 
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OP, good stuff. Can you explain the process?

Damn I remember that NTer was sick. RIP
 
It starts with a cheek swab when you sign up at a drive or when you submit your kit. They collect your cell samples to help determine if your blood type will be a match.

If you get a match, they will call you and let you know that you've been selected as a 1 in 15 match. It's up to you to proceed.

They do a few more tests and if you get picked as the exact match, you will go in for some blood tests within the next several months.

For the 5 days leading up to the donation date, a drug called filgrastim is used to boost the stem cell count in your bones. Those get pushed to your blood stream. On the day of the donation you'll have two needles, one drawing blood and the other going back in. They collect all of the excess stem cells, so you are not losing anything.

The immediate day after I was able to continue my daily routine, with only minor soreness in my arms.
 
Oh thats not bad. I thought it was like Will Smith in Seven Pounds.

Thanks for the info.
 
Oh thats not bad. I thought it was like Will Smith in Seven Pounds.

Thanks for the info.

No problem. That's the most common general misconception of the procedure, which deters many potential donors. I can't say the exact stats but it is high unlikely they will do the hip extraction method (which still uses anesthesia).

I wish more folks knew that the chance be an exact match is VERY uncommon. Which is why we may never find a match for some patients. It is not the same as organ donation which people are in line to retrieve next, or blood donation which can be simply matched with blood type. (However, the procedure is very similar to blood donation)

Every sign up matters. I got a call only a month or two after I signed up, and that was over 5 years ago. I have not been a match again for anyone else.
 
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