Re: Thousands turn out at bone marrow clinic, The News, June 16
While such an exercise as recruiting thousands of volunteers to be tested for a possible match to a single specific recipient is very noble and well-intentioned, it is generally a fruitless act; there has never been a match found in such a campaign.
The best odds of finding a match for an unrelated bone marrow recipient are one in 70,000. It is for this reason the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry was set up many years ago. This registry contains the names of thousands of potential donors who have already been pre-tested and educated about the process of what would be asked of them in the event they're matched to a patient. Your chances of being a match to a patient are maybe once in 20 years.
The bone marrow donor list, along with the platelet aphaeresis, stem cell, plasma and whole blood lists, have been combined into the One Match system operated by Canadian Blood Services.
To better the odds of finding a match for each patient, there has to be many more potential donors on the One Match list.
For this reason, I suggest that all those people who would turn out once for one patient, instead contact Canadian Blood Services and inquire about getting on the One Match donor list. It does not cost anything and it improves the chances of not just that one person in need, but everyone who might one day need a bone marrow transplant.
While it's unfortunate that you probably cannot help Elizabeth Lue now, by going on the One Match donor list you will probably be able to help someone at sometime in the future.
You can be an active member on the donor list by being available for whole blood, platelets and other blood product donations, or you can be a passive member and wait around for the call to donate bone marrow.
It isn’t easy and it does hurt, but it's a good kind of hurt.
