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Saving Lives: The National Marrow Donor Program

Congressman Bill Young, an internationally recognized leader in providing funding for biomedical research, was instrumental in the founding of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) in 1986. The NMDP facilitates marrow and blood stem cell transplants by maintaining a national registry to match patients and marrow donors.  Diseases treatable by bone marrow transplants include numerous forms of Leukemia, Hodgkin's Disease and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Gaucher's disease, Sickle Cell Disease, and Neuroblastoma.  For a full list of diseases treatable by bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants click here.  Approximately 75% of the transplants facilitated by the NMDP were to treat some form of Leukemia.

Congress through public law in 2005 named this international life-saving program, which Congressman Young established with a small appropriation to the Navy in 1985, as the "C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program".

The Department of Defense (DOD) has also honored Congressman Young by establishing the C.W. Bill Young Marrow Donor Center, which coordinates all the medical and logistical support for military personnel who volunteer as marrow donors.

Each year over 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with a disease for which a bone marrow or cord blood stem cell transplant is the only possible cure.  Although the Registry now contains over 6.5 million potential donors, there are still many patients who are not able to find a lifesaving match.  The NMDP and the C.W. Bill Young DOD Marrow Donor Program are continually working to register new donors, in the hope that one day everyone afflicted with these diseases will be able to find a match.

• Become a donor or learn more about the National Marrow Donor Program.
• Visit the Bill Young DOD Marrow Donor Program.
• Learn more about Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide.