Be the Match

There was another thread on this site a while ago about philanthropy but I didn't see much activity on it so I'd like to bring everyone's attention to a program known as Be the Match.

A little back story first.....

This April my wife's aunt, who was only in her mid forties and a mother of three, passed away of Leukemia. From the time she was diagnosed until her passing only a year had passed but during that time she'd had a bone marrow transplant from her brother which turned out not be successful.

During her illness we learned about be the Match which is a program that finds bone marrow and cord blood donors for people with potentially fatal diseases such as cancer.

The passing of my wife's aunt forced us to think about things we'd never thought about before and we both decided to volunteer for the program as potential donors. Basically you sign up on their website by answering a few medical questions to see if you qualify as a donor, they send you a mouth swab through the mail which you swab your cheek with and return to them. Then your info gets entered into a database and if you're ever a match for someone they contact you and you would have an outpatient procedure to donate.

It's basically a program that helps save people's lives, including many children. I know that if my children ever had a fatal disease and a stranger donated marrow or cord blood that saved their life I'd be eternally grateful. I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention so that you can look at it and consider it.

Thanks

Be the Match

 

I did it in person a few years ago as part of a benefit for a local child.
I guess I wasn't a match because I never got a call back.
My question is, do you stay in the database forever or do you have to renew every so often?

 

Good reminder of what being proactive can do.

 

It's my understanding that your medical records are kept indefinitely. Theoretically you could be the match for someone ten years from now and you may have forgotten all about it but they'd call you up and let you know.

 

Yeah if you go online on youtube and other sites there are videos of the donor/recipient stories. They show them meeting and stuff like that. It's just nice to know there is still a lot of goodness in the world because you'd never know it by watching the news. It's important not to lose sight of this IMO.

 

I'm a donor if something happens to me, my license has the symbol on it.
I'm a blood donor when I can. My work and a few other organizations have regular drives.
I think it's a great idea to give back. I'm a fairly healthy person and I think helping out
those who need the help should get it.
Well said Dennis!

 

I'm also a full organ donor. Gave blood one time only...passed out 4 steps away from the chair. Once was enough.

 

I was a match a while back but it didn't work out. I wouldn't agree to being out of work for several days and them making a profit when I was giving it.

Maybe that sounds bad, and I don't mean to be a jerk, but I don't think it's right for them to harvest marrow they get for free and turn around and sell it making a ton of $$.
Donating marrow isn't exactly an easy process. You get shot up with some drugs for a few days, they cut you open, pull it out of your hip. That means several days not being able to work.

You know that bag of blood you give gets billed out at $500+ at the hospital?

 

I don't think it sounds bad. In the end you have to put the needs of you and your family above all else. If you couldn't go through with it because of your personal situation then it is what it is. the fact that you volunteered in the first place is more than most people do.

The thinking in my situation is that seeing as I live about 40 minutes north of Boston with all of those large teaching hospitals down there I could donate down there if I was picked as a match. I'd probably ask it to be done on a Friday so I could have the weekend to recoup and not miss much work. If they couldn't make it work for me then I would probably not agree to do it either. The thing is the donor has chosen to do something kind out of the goodness of their heart for a complete stranger. You'd think the program and the recipient would try to be as accomodating as possible. If my child or spouse were dying I'd be more than willing to reimburse the donor for their lost wages. Who wouldn't? Each donor/recipient situation is unique and I'm sure there are a lot of ins and outs but where there's a will there's a way and no one should be made to feel guilty about it.

 

They were not really willing to work it out. I had asked to be comp'd for fuel and some for lost wages and I may as well have asked for a dumptruck of gold.
I didn't expect to be coddled and have a red carpet rolled out, and I also didn't expect to make money off it, but I wasn't really in a position to make multiple 100 mile trips and also be out for several days. They told me recovered was normally 3-10 days.