You will be asked to answer questions related to your health as part of the process of becoming a volunteer potential donor. The purpose of this medical evaluation is to minimize the risks to both the patient and the donor. In addition to the medical evaluation, the information below should be carefully reviewed.

Am I at Risk for HIV (the AIDS Virus) or Hepatitis?

Please read this before you decide whether you should be HLA tissue typed. You will be asked if you have read this information and if you have any questions. You also will be asked to acknowledge that you have answered all of the questions truthfully, and that you are not in any of the risk categories listed.

If you are at risk for HIV (the AIDS virus) or hepatitis, you cannot be a donor. Based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for blood donors, if your answer to any of the following questions is "yes," you are considered at risk for either HIV or hepatitis and must disqualify yourself from the Program.

1. Have you been diagnosed with AIDS, or have you tested positive for HIV (the AIDS virus)?

2. Are you a male who had sex with another male even once since 1977?

3. Have you ever taken street drugs by needle, even once?

4. Are you a hemophiliac who has received clotting factor concentrate?

5. Have you ever exchanged sex for drugs or money since 1977?

If you do not qualify for the program based on your answers to the above questions, please accept our thanks for your interest.

Factors to Consider Before Signing Up

Patients searching the National Bone Marrow Registry for an unrelated donor count on volunteers to be willing and accessible if identified as a match. If you decide to join, you should carefully consider the commitment to remain on the donor file until age 61. The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is aware there are circumstances that may cause you to be unavailable when contacted. When patients are searching, however, time is essential. If you have a change in address, a significant change affecting long-term health, or a change in personal commitment to be a potential donor, please notify your donor center immediately.

Stem Cell Donation Through the NMDP

Each year thousands of people develop diseases treatable with marrow or blood stem cell transplants. The National Marrow Donor Program ® (NMDP), which administers the federally authorized National Bone Marrow Donor Registry (Registry), has been a leader in unrelated bone marrow transplantation for more than 15 years. Now, the role of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation as an alternative to bone marrow donation for unrelated transplants is being evaluated under a research protocol accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The following is what you can expect if you volunteer to donate stem cells through the NMDP.

The first step is to enroll as a potential donor. NMDP recruiters talk to you about the marrow and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation processes. You fill out a brief health questionnaire, sign a form consenting to have your tissue type listed on the Registry and give a small blood sample to determine your tissue type. Once listed on the Registry, your tissue type will be compared to the tissue types of thousands of patients around the world who need transplants.

If you come up as a potential match for a patient, NMDP Donor Center staff will ask for another blood sample to see if you match well enough to be an actual donor for the patient. If you do match, you will get more information about the marrow and PBSC donation processes and which is the preferred process for this patient.

To get ready for either donation procedure, you go to an information session about the donation process and potential side effects of the donation. You will have a physical exam to see if you are healthy enough to donate and learn if there are any special risks to you with either donation procedure.

You decide whether to donate. After being fully informed about the donor experience, you decide - with the support of your friends and loved ones - about whether or not to become a donor.

The marrow collection process is a surgical procedure that occurs in a hospital operating room while you receive regional or general anesthesia. Part of your marrow is taken from the back of your pelvic bone using sterile needles and syringes. You should recover quickly from the donation. Most donors have some bone pain and aches for several days or a few weeks. Your marrow naturally replenishes itself within four to six weeks.

For a PBSC donation, you will receive daily injections of filgrastim for four or five consecutive days. Filgrastim is a blood stem cell growth factor that increases the number of blood stem cells released from your marrow into your blood stream so they can be collected through an apheresis procedure. During apheresis, which is done at a blood center or hospital, your blood is removed through a sterile needle placed in a vein in one arm and passed through an apheresis machine that separates out the blood stem cells. The remaining blood, minus the blood stem cells, is returned to you through a sterile needle in your other arm. Apheresis donors can experience bone pain prior to the donation procedure as a result of receiving filgrastim. These effects diminish over one to two days after the last done of filgrastim has been given.

After you donate stem cells, your NMDP Donor Center Coordinator will call you to follow-up on your experience. Your coordinator will continue to call you regularly until you are able to resume normal activity, and annually for long-term follow-up.

For more information about either procedure, call 800-MARROW-2 or visit www.marrow.org

National Marrow Donor Program®