About the Find the Time bone marrow donor appeal
Bone marrow is the soft, jelly-like tissue that is found in the hollow centres of certain bones. It's the home of what are called 'stem cells' which are the building blocks of blood itself. These building blocks are: the red cells - which carry oxygen; the white cells - which fight infection, and the platelets - which stop bleeding. All these cells are produced by the stem cells and released into the blood stream via the veins and thin tissue surrounding the bone.
Without the bone marrow, blood can not be produced, so when things go wrong and the bone marrow becomes damaged, the patient must receive a stem cell transplant to survive.
Bone marrow or stem cell transplants are necessary when the bone marrow becomes diseased or damaged so that it can't function normally.
Sometimes the damage to the bone marrow is a result of treatment for leukaemia or a related cancer of the blood. In order to destroy all the leukaemia cells it may be necessary to use treatment so strong that it completely destroys the bone marrow, in which case a bone-marrow or stem cell transplant must be given to restore blood cell production.
Without the stem cells to produce blood the patient will not survive. So you can see, when we say 'bone marrow saves lives' we really mean it.
Sometimes an appropriate donor can be found within the patient's immediate family as it is more likely that their 'tissue type' will match. However, only 30% of donors are found this way, and this is when we rely on the British Bone Marrow Registry to find another suitable donor. And this is the reason we really need people like you who are prepared to help save a life.
It is your genes that determine your tissue type. But there are other factors that determine the probability of finding a compatible tissue typed donor for a patient. Some tissue types are more common in particular ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, in addition to matching a donor and patient's tissue type it's also important to match the ethnic background. By doing this, the transplant has a better chance of being successful.
We're extremely pleased that you've asked yourself if you can help, because we are always looking for new bone marrow donors to help save the lives of people who desperately need a transplant. Before you can become a donor though there's some important information you need to read and some things that we'll need to ask you too, but for now all we need to know is:
Are you aged between 18 and 44?
and
Have you, or are you prepared to give blood?
If you answered yes to both these questions, then - providing there are no medical reasons that prevent you from doing so - you may well be able to become a bone marrow donor.
Find the Time and you can save a life.
Number of volunteers currently on The Anthony Nolan Register: approx 345,000. (Sept 2003)
There are 51 registers and 8 million potential donors worldwide.
18,896 new potential volunteer donors were added to the Register in 2002.
The number of transplants which took place in 2002 using Anthony Nolan donors and donors traced by the Trust from overseas registers for UK patients was 419.
Breakdown of volunteers on The Anthony Nolan Register by ethnic background:
At end September 2003
- Northern European: 269,861
- Oriental: 621
- Jewish: 7,422
- Eastern European: 282
- Asian: 6,725
- Middle Eastern: 149
- African-Caribbean: 7,670
- Hispanic: 87
- Mediterranean: 2,905
- Other: 5,697
- African: 1,694
- Origin Unknown: 40,668
Breakdown of male / female volunteers on the Register:
Approx 60% female and 40% male. There is an urgent need for male donors.
Success rate of bone marrow transplants: between 40 - 60% (this figure is increasing all the time and it is particularly good in children.
The likelihood of siblings being a compatible match for each other is one in four.
To join the Register potential donors must be aged 18 - 40, in general good health and weigh over eight stone/51kg (once on the Register, volunteers may donate bone marrow up to their 60th birthday).
Donors must not be pregnant or have a child under the age of 12 months.
Visit the www.blood.co.uk or www.anthonynolan.org.uk websites to register now.