You may have just the right type of healthy blood-forming cells to save a life. A patient needing a bone marrow or cord blood transplant (also called a BMT) has diseased cells. If the diseased cells are not repaired or replaced, the patient may not survive.
The Registry of the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program (Program) is a listing of potential marrow donors and already donated cord blood units. The Registry is managed by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), a contractor for the Program.
When you join the Registry, your tissue type is listed with more than 11 million other potential donors around the world who have agreed to donate their marrow and possibly save a patient's life.
A transplant has a better chance of success when the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue type of the marrow donor or cord blood unit closely matches the patient's. HLA are proteins, or markers, that the immune system uses to recognize the cells that belong in the body and those that do not.
How to Join the Registry
If you are between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and are in good overall health, you can join the Registry online, right now. Or, you can join in person at a marrow drive, which is often hosted by a donor center or recruitment group.
Whether you join online or in person, your information is entered into one Registry managed by the NMDP.
When you join the Registry, you will be asked to:
- Complete a questionnaire about your health history, provide your contact information and sign an agreement to join the Registry.
- Pay for tissue typing. Sometimes a sponsor or company pays for this cost. If you pay this fee, it is a tax-deductible cost.
- Give either a swab of cheek cells or a blood sample for tissue typing.
Your Current Information is Important, Now and Later
When you join, you are agreeing to consider giving your healthy blood-forming cells to any patient, someone whose best chance for survival may depend on you. If your tissue type matches a patient, you will need to be contacted quickly. Therefore, you need to update your information on the Registry if:
- Your phone number, name, or address changes.
- You want to be removed from the Registry.
- Your health changes significantly. For example, in the future you develop heart disease, diabetes, or hepatitis.
