http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow Comments on 'register as a Bone Marrow Donor' en-gb team@pledgebank.com 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 2 hourly http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_795 If you have a 'match' with someone who needs bone marrow (highly unlikely, see my first message above) then it's an overnight (I think, maybe 48 hours) in hospital. Expenses are paid (including hotel for family) and you get a private room. I've heard that it can be a bit painful (believe they take the marrow from your thighbone, that being the largest in your body) but what's a couple of days discomfort to save someone's life? http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_788 They *do* harvest the marrow under anaesthetic. A US site http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/steps_of_donation.html describes the procedure; I'd guess it's the same over here. http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_782 Hi Francis, There are two methods. The traditional method is to stick a big needle into a bone in your upper leg and suck a bit out. It's the manly way to give marrow! A new way is to take a dose of a growth hormone which promotes the production of marrow cells. The excess cells spill out into your blood and can be collected via a standard blood donation. I'm not an expert on this method, but you would of course be given full details if you were called up. Hope this helps (I'm already on the register, having joined through the Anthony Nolan Trust), Jon http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_778 How does the actual operation to transfer bone marrow work, should you be called up to do so? I couldn't find any description of it on the National Blood Service website. If it very intrusive, or dangerous? http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_743 I hope this pledge counts; I signed up as a marrow donor on the occasion of giving my 25th pint last October http://www.pledgebank.com/bonemarrow#comment_738 My younger sister is going into hospital next Thursday to donate bone marrow - which will hopefully save the life of a little boy. I am so proud of her. Apparently, there is a one in 30,000 (yep, thirty THOUSAND) chance of a match. And only half a million people on the register worldwide. I have already sent my enquiry and am waiting to hear from the Blood Service about registration. I've been a blood donor for years (although haven't been this year yet... so I will make the additional pledge that I will give my pint before the end of July 2005).