FORT SILL, Okla. -- June 3-7 a pain-free procedure can add Fort Sill people to a national bone marrow registry and offer hope to thousands seeking compatible marrow donors.
Representatives from the C.W. Bill Young Marrow Donor Program will be on post June 3-6 at various units and June 7 at the Main Exchange to add Soldiers and the general public to this registry.
The donor drive is open to all U.S. citizens ages 18-60 in good general health who have access to Fort Sill. To become registered, a technician will take four oral swab samples from the cheek of a person; the process takes about five to 10 minutes.
Body piercings, tattoos, a cold, malaria shots or medication will not disqualify people from testing to become potential marrow donors. Also, people who lived in England, Germany, any Third World country or were stationed in Iraq can still register. Mad cow disease concerns that prevent people from donating blood will not prevent someone from volunteering as a marrow donor. A thorough medical examination will determine a potential donor's health at the appropriate time.
Once registered, donors remain eligible until age 60. That built-in longevity means a call to donate may come in days or decades.
The National Marrow Donor Program has nearly 10 million registered donors including about 700,000 service members. While this is certainly a significant number, finding a suitable donor often takes a prolonged search. Because only 25 percent of patients needing a marrow transplant find suitable donors within their families, the rest must find unrelated donors. Since marrow characteristics are inherited in the same manner as skin, hair and eye color, the best chance of finding a match is within the patient's same ethnic or racial group.
An estimated 30,000 children and adults in the United States, more than 500 of them in the Department of Defense, are diagnosed each year with leukemia or other fatal blood diseases. For many of these people, a bone marrow transplant is their only hope.
Donors identified as potential matches will be contacted for additional blood testing. Those determined as best matches will receive detailed information about the donation process and a thorough physical exam. They should decide at that point about going through the procedure. That will consist of either extracting contribute bone marrow or stem cells. Medical personnel will consult with the donor with the understanding the procedure chosen will be the best for the recipient.
Bone marrow donation occurs in the hospital where less than 5 percent of a donor's marrow collected from the back of the pelvic bone using a special needle and syringe. The donor is placed under general or local anesthesia and usually requires an overnight in the hospital. Marrow donors can expect some soreness in their lower back for a few days or longer. Most donors return to work in a few days and normal physical routines in a few weeks.
A stem cell donor receives daily injections of a drug called filgrastim for four days before the collection and a fifth injection on the day of collection. The donor's blood is then removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood stem cells. The remaining blood returns to the donor through the other arm. Donors may experience headaches, or bone or muscle aches for several days before collection. These are side effects of the injections to increase the number of blood stem cells in the bloodstream. The side effects disappear shortly after the collection.
The DoD established the Young donor center in Kensington, Md., to meet the special needs of the military. While donors through the DoD program join the National Marrow Donor Registry, a separate donor management system offers a secure system to meet the military's requirements. The DoD program also has a unique mission to provide immediate donor searches in the event of a mass casualty incident involving nuclear or chemical agents.
For more information, call the 800-627-7693 or logon to www.dodmarrow.org.
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