I am donating bone marrow right now! AMA

Once your bones are hollow, please follow up with an AMA about your life as a bird.

CACAW!

edit: Of course this is now the top comment. :) Have to hijack it with info.

I've been on the registry since the 90s and haven't been called. How long were you registered before you were called?

Less than 2 yrs.

Thank you for volunteering to donate marrow!

To you, too!

I want to mention if it hasn't already been said below, but donating marrow through an apheresis procedure is nearly painless and does not involve a giant needle as did procedures previous to this. I donated years ago and aside from some discomfort of having to sit in a chair for a number of hours, saving a life couldn't be easier.

Agreed!

A good friend of mine has aplastic anemia and requires bone marrow, but they can't find him a match. Thank you for what you are doing.

Good luck to your friend. Thx for the message.

<3 do you know some one in need, or are you just big hearted and awesome?

Have known two people saved by these procedures. But this donation is to a stranger.

I hope that this AMA can provide more people with the guts to do it too.

Me too!

I don't have any questions - just wanted to say thanks.

My wife is alive today because someone like you went to the trouble to make a gift of bone marrow.

It's been 13 years since her transplant. My son - approaching his 15th birthday - has grown up knowing his mother because someone did exactly what you're doing right now. I have my wife, her parents still have a daughter, her siblings a sister, her many nieces and nephews an aunt, and so on.

Thank you.

The word hero gets tossed around a lot these days. So much so that the word's meaning has eroded somewhat over time. In the truest sense of the word, you and people like you are heroes. What might feel like a simple sacrifice for you may literally be life for someone else.

Well done.

Wow, thanks. People like your wife give me the courage.

Hey man, good on you!

I just donated back in June

I ended up sitting for a little over 6 hours, how long are you supposed to be hooked up?

3.5 hrs total -- I just found out!

They don't know until about 2 hrs in. Everyone is different.

Thx for the support.

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Sent.

I've heard that the procedure is a pretty painful thing to go through, i was wondering how you deal with the pain and also thank you so much for being helping those who need it. I'm on donor registers and we definitely need more people like you!

Edit- To everyone replying with their experiences, i am now looking at whether i am eligible for donation! :D

A PBSC donation is not very painful. If you're reluctant, be comforted by the fact that only about 1 in 540 of those who sign up actually end up donating, and about 80% of the time it's through a PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell) donation, which is non-invasive and relatively easy. That means that those who sign up only have about a 0.037% (about 1 in 2700) chance of donating bone marrow through a surgical procedure (the odds of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime, 1 in 3000, are only slightly less), and a 0.15% (1 in 670) chance of giving through a PBSC donation. Do it!

Congrats and thanks for what you're doing! I am also a match and have my physical exam coming up in the next couple weeks. I believe my donation will happen at the beginning of next month. I just found out yesterday that since I have a mild case of psoriasis, I can't donate via the PBSC method... I have to do the surgical marrow donation. However, I'm still moving forward with the process. A few days of pain and discomfort is worth it to be able to save someone else's life.

I have been on the registry for 10+ years. Those of you who want to donate but haven't been a match yet, be patient! Your day may come when you least expect it!

For those who aren't on the registry (especially men... only 28% of the registry is men, and many refuse to donate when they are a match), PLEASE consider joining... you could save someone's life!

http://bethematch.org/Join/Join_the_Registry.aspx

Good luck! The surgical procedure is a bit scarier, but so worth it. Thanks for doing it.

Finally joined Reddit after 2 years lurking to respond here. I was just called by Be The Match registry yesterday as a possible match to someone. I'm going in to get blood drawn soon to confirm that I'm a good match and start the donation process if I am selected.

Thank you for doing this AMA! You've taught me a lot and really taken all of my apprehension away. I've told myself that whatever I go through, it's nothing compared to the person I could help. But reading your responses has really helped me as well.

I've been on the registry for roughly 2 years like you, and joined because a close friend had Leukemia (and has since beaten it through a marrow donation). I'm glad to hear your procedure is going well and thanks again!

Embrace the experience. It's truly amazing.

My current roommate was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and it was a person just like you that saved his life. He ended up meeting his donor last year, very cool experience.

So glad to hear that.

I do hope to meet the recipient.

Just wanted to say thank you to the OP and everyone else signing up, this is huge. My boyfriend is going through treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma which is a blood cancer of the immune system, which includes the lymph nodes and bone marrow. He is going through chemo and radiation, but in the future if things don't clear up this first round he may need a bone marrow transplant in the future. Through our support groups it has become clear to me how common these procedures are for blood cancer patients, leukemia, lymphoma and more. Thank you for being a life saver!

A friend's brother had this and had a similar experience. After exhausting a lot of other treatment options he got a transplant. Has been in remission for 2+ years. My best to your boyfriend. Stay strong.

Can you please explain the process?

A PBSC donation requires 5 days of injections of a drug called Filgrastim to stimulate stem cell production in your bones and their release into the bloodstream. On day 5, you undergo apheresis (what I'm doing now) which flows your blood through a machine to remove the stem cells.

http://bethematch.org/Registry_Members/Donation/Steps_of_Donation.aspx

Thanks for doing this! I was matched with a recipient from the Canadian registry (OneMatch) and donated this past July. It was a great experience, and I urge everyone to sign up for their national registry. My question though is how exactly are you typing this?? I couldn't even move my left arm the needle was so huge!

Right arm is immobilized, but the needle in my left is placed in a way that I can move it.

I thought they dug out the bonemarrow from your bones with a spoon.

Haha, nope.

how long does it take? Does it hurt ? Do you get paid or is it like donating blood ?

No payment. Hasn't hurt me much at all -- minor aches for a few days.

5 days of injections, a full day of a procedure called apheresis on day 5.

See my other comment on this: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1mklrw/i_am_donating_bone_marrow_right_now_ama/cca3jcw

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About 80% of donations are completely non-surgical, from what I've read. Look up PBSC donation.

Thank you for your generous and painful donation! You never know which of us may need that...I am sure the anonymous patient is truly grateful for your sacrifice, as most of us are.

Not too painful, actually. Some minor bone pain in my hips, back and head for a few days -- no worse than the flu. Now the apheresis is mostly just boring. :)

Most donations are now done in a non-invasive manner. It's a very common misconception that being a donor will necessarily involve tons of pain.

What happens if you have to go to the bathroom while you are sitting there?

I pee in a "urinal" which is basically a bottle.

Has this cost you any money?

Will you get to find out anything about the recipient?

No money. All covered by recipient's insurance.

I know his age, country, and illness. After a year, if we both consent, we can meet. But no identifying info will be shared before then.

how is the last link "for the jews"?

I copy/pasted from another AMA. The registry is often short of people of certain ethnicities, so I bet there are sites/orgs that specifically target donors of certain backgrounds.

My 2 year anniversary of being on the Be the Match donor list is this month and I just recommitted to it.

I joined in honor of my sister who we lost to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I highly recommend people to join as well.

So sorry for your loss.

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Best is knowing I'm giving someone their best chance at survival.

There hasn't been anything too terrible about it. I barely felt ill at all. Just very minor aches in my hip bones and a mild headache.

what colour are the walls?

Haha. White!

Hey, good on you! I signed up about a year ago to be a donor. Thanks for spreading the word on signing up!

Lots of people looking for a match!

I was contacted as possible donor match earlier this year and told I may or may not be exact match they're looking for and advised if I don't get any more contacts, I was not exact match they're looking for.

After a month, I was not contacted again and did not donate.

Good for you to volunteer for bone marrow donation.

Would you still have gone through if you had to do marrow donation instead of PBSC donation?

I would have been a bit nervous, but yes. Hard to say no to saving a life.

Does it hurt? Can you describe what they're doing to you?

IVs in both arms. Taking blood out one arm, running it through a machine to get stem cells, putting it back in the other arm. It's called apheresis.

I thought bone marrow transplants involved a dangerous/painful surgical procedure. I assume this is just to extract stem cells?

Bone marrow transplants are also to get stem cells -- that's where they're produced. Most of the time these days they can get those cells non-surgically through a nearly painless PBSC donation. Basically they stimulate your bones to release the stem cells from the marrow into the blood stream, then collect them from the blood.

How long was the process when you were actually chosen? I've recently joined the registry (thank you for joining by the way!) and was wondering how much of your time was actually given to this process, and what tests you had to go through

One quick workup after the first call to take a blood sample. Then a morning's worth of tests after I was determined to be the best match -- EKG, chest x-ray, blood tests, etc.

Then 5 days before the apheresis, 30 min. each day to receive injections.

How did you hear that you got a match? How did you react? Did a hospital call you?

I got a phone call late one night from someone at the registry. It was exciting.

Do you have to pay to be added to the registry?

Not that I remember.

Go to bethematch.org. Fill out basic info. They'll send you cheek swabs in the mail. Send them back and you're done.

hey OP. nice work. Do you know how long does it take to recover from a donation? is it similar to a standard blood donation?

Yep. A few days for the PBSC donation. Back to work tomorrow.

I saw the story a while back about a D1 athlete who gave up his career to donate. How long is it suppose to take until you return to prior level of function? Also if you don't mind me asking would you consider yourself a very active person?

Not very active.

A PBSC donation only requires a few days for recovery. Modern medicine is amazing. These days, bone marrow donations, which are actually stem cell donations, are non-surgical about 80% of the time.

I've heard bone marrow donation is painful as balls. How has the experience been for you?

See my other comments. Not painful at all.

Have you been able to sleep during the procedure? I donated marrow from my hip bone and "T cells" through peripheral apheresis. I slept through most of the apheresis procedure. The only thing that woke me up was when I was too hot because the blood warmer on the return IV was up too high. I hope your recipient does well and that you have a speedy recovery!

Hard to sleep through an AMA!

I'm so glad everyone on this thread is either already registered or seems positive about it. Upvotes for all and good on you OP.

Do you wish to meet the person you're donating to next year?

Definitely.

Should you be redditing whilst giving marrow?

What better way to pass the time?