I am a young 30 something female living in the United
States. I was someone’s match. This is my story.
Every year over 10,000 people in the United States need a
bone marrow transplant to survive. 30% of these people will find matches within
their own family. The remaining 70% rely on donor databases, of which Be The
Match is the largest at 10 million. Half of these people will find a match. The
other half will not.
More people need to be on the registry, period. It is easy
and painless to sign up.
Every person added to the registry gives hope to those who are searching for
their match. Donors that are Hispanic/Latino, African-American/black, American
Indian, Asian, and those of mixed race are especially needed. Matches are
dependent on DNA and are therefore more likely to occur between people that
share ethnic backgrounds.
There are 2 major barriers to people joining the registry: lack
of awareness and fear. Most people have not heard of the Be The Match Registry, even
the medical people I visited with throughout this experience. The other people
believed the donation process to be extremely painful with a long recovery
time. This is completely wrong.
I hope by sharing my experience that I can help spread
awareness and remove that barrier of fear. If you have questions, please do not
hesitate to post a comment or e-mail me.
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