halo00to14

You are bringing common sense to a medical emergency.

Good news for you then:

If they ask for marrow to be drawn from the hip, they will sedate you. You'll be sore for a few days to a week depending, and they'll give you the good drugs. I've had bone marrow biopsies and aspirations so I know what it's like. I also talked to my donor and she told me about her procedure. She was sedated, was patched up, couldn't shower for a few days, got to stay in a hotel while recovering and fed. All paid for. She would do it again in a heart beat.

But, if you don't think you can go through with it, don't even sign up. The only thing worse than no hope is false hope.

Sorry for the blurriness, I was tripping balls thanks to the steroid premeds, but this is what the marrow looks like for the recipient.

I can't come up

They make a pill for that now.

To alleviate fears and add some perspective...

Current registries are made up of 70+% white.

If you need a tissue transplant, you have a better chance at being a match with your siblings than you do with a stranger. (About 1 in 4 chance of being a match for siblings).

The way donation works is by HLA (Human leukocyte antigen) matching. This each ethnic group has a different type/combination of HLA. Asians have a better chance at matching Asians than they do for matching Africans, Europeans, etc. Same for African descent, and European descent.

If we want to split hairs a bit, there's already a registry for whites in the current status quo. And statistically, you would be more likely donating to the person of the same ethnicity as you. What we need to have happen is get more Asians and people of African descent onto these registries. We also need people of mixed ethnic groups to get on these registries too.

And the medical team doesn't give two shits what ethnic group you are if you are a match for someone. You won't even know the ethnicity of the person you are donating too when presented with the chance of donating. You'll just know the sex, age, and diagnoses.