According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, over 18,000 Americans get diagnosed with diseases that require a bone marrow transplant annually. Unfortunately, only about 30 percent of these people have close relatives who are a match and can donate their bone marrow. The rest of them have to wait to be matched with someone who donates and it can take a while for Black people to be matched.
Who Needs A Bone Marrow Transplant
Getting a bone marrow transplant can serve four purposes. The healthy cells can replace non-functioning bone marrow as in the case of sickle cell anemia, aplastic anemia, or leukemia. Healthy bone marrow can also regenerate a new immune system to fight the remaining abnormal cells that survived treatment with chemotherapy or radiation.
Another option is that the healthy bone marrow can prevent more damage from genetic diseases like Hurler’s syndrome. Finally, people who have had their bone marrow damaged by high doses of radiation or chemotherapy can have normal function restored by getting a bone marrow transplant.
A few other diseases that can be helped with a bone marrow transplant include lymphomas, multiple myeloma, immune deficiency disorders, and some solid-tumor cancers.
How To Find Out If You’re A Match
The first step in finding out if you can be a donor is talking to your doctor. They can tell you if you’re healthy enough to donate. Generally, doctors prefer people who are between the ages of 18 and 35 but sometimes you may be approved up to the age of 45.
Next, you would contact the national bone marrow donation registry to start the process. A health professional will discuss the process of matching before collecting a cell sample from a cheek swab or your blood. These cells will be tested for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing – a protein that is used to match donors and recipients.
If there’s a match, you will undergo further testing to ensure that you don’t have any genetic anomalies that would affect your donation.
RELATED: Why More African Americans Should Donate Bone Marrow
Why Black People Should Donate
Unlike organ transplants, ethnicity is an important factor in matching bone marrow donors. According to NMDP, Black Americans are the least likely to find a match when they need one. In fact, Black people find their match 29 percent of the time when compared to 76 percent of white people.
The lack of Black donors has a significant impact on how easily Black Americans can access the care they need for