Patient 'cured' of HIV after bone marrow transplant

[damyanti]

There are 1.3 million Americans on the marrow donor list, why not add yours? You could save a life.

U.S. has the population of 300 million, but only 1.3 million are registered as the bone marrow donors?

[Ragoczy]

U.S. has the population of 300 million, but only 1.3 million are registered as the bone marrow donors?

That sounds about right, though I don't know the exact number for the US. There are only about 11 million donors registered world-wide.

The sad thing is that "registering" costs nothing and consists of nothing more than a blood sample. If called on to donate, it's most likely going to be nothing more than the equivalent of an extended blood donation -- but even if marrow is needed it's a simple outpatient procedure.

Marrow donation is all a numbers game right now. The more people in the registry, the more likely it is there'll be a match, but with so few people registered it's a virtual certainty that people are dieing because others spend a day of their time on a donation.

It's a very worthwhile thing to do -- imagine being able to go into a clinic for a day and then spend the rest of your life thinking: "I saved someone's life."

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_...Don/index.html

[lucy]

Thanks for the link, Ragoczy. Now that i know such a list exists i think i'll get on that list too.