What is involved in donating stem cells from marrow or peripheral blood?
The first step is having either one small tube of blood drawn from your arm or an oral swab sample taken. You are required to fill out a Department of Defense (DoD) consent form. The blood or oral swab is tested to determine your Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) type. That coded information (no names or social security numbers are used for identification purposes) is placed on the national registry of the NMDP in Minneapolis, MN, where it will remain until your sixty-first (61st) birthday. You will be contacted if you are found to be a preliminary match for a specific patient in need of a marrow transplant and asked if you would consent to having more blood drawn for compatibility testing. If you do agree, the C.W. Bill Young/DoD Marrow Donor Center staff will make all arrangements for the testing. This process usually takes between 3-12 weeks (there are exceptions however). If the test results indicate you are an acceptable match, you will be asked to consider donating marrow or peripher
